The Time for Talk is Over

I often receive feedback from readers who are less than satisfied with Newfoundland and Labrador’s place in Canada. There are those who complain about the goings on but do not offer up any solutions, those who want the Province to have a stronger voice inside Canada and more and more often lately, there are those would love nothing more than to leave the Dominion and go it alone as an independent Nation.

These comments clearly tell me that there are a lot of dissatisfied people out there, but what they don’t tell me is whether or not the number willing to take the plunge and actually vote for separation has reached that magic 50% + 1. Unfortunately determining that fact isn’t something easily accomplished without the involvement of the provincial government, or of someone with much deeper pockets than my own.

Anyone can conduct a poll asking the simple question, “If a referendum were held tomorrow would you vote to remain in Canada or separate”, but that wouldn’t really resolve anything would it? For the sake of discussion (in other words I’ll pluck some numbers from thin air), I suspect a question like that would get response of 85% against separation and to 15% for it. This result would please Ottawa to no end, but it wouldn’t paint a true picture of the sentiment in the Province. Instead it would identify those who want to leave Canada regardless of the realities and the majority of the population which is too practical and pragmatic to jump into a boat that hasn’t even been water tested.

As I see it, before any poll is conducted, a complete feasibility study and risk/benefit analysis should to be undertaken. What we need is a well funded and properly managed study that clearly outlines the impacts of separation from Canada. Our current Premier is a business man at heart and as such should understand the value of such an exercise. The outcome of that effort would identify once and for all the social and cultural impacts of independence as well as the financial stability or instability of the future Nation of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We’ve skirted the issue in the past with the Royal Commission study of our place in Canada and later the newspaper, The Independent undertook a cost / benefit analysis of Confederation itself. These were interesting studies in their own right but they failed to answer the one question everyone really wants answered. Can Newfoundland and Labrador survive and even prosper as a separate Country?

A feasibility study would answer that question if it included a complete examination of the revenue streams necessary to support an independent Nation as well as the funds that would be available to it going forward. Only in this way will the public in the Province ever be able to make a clear and informed decision on the topic.

I often here statements to the effect that without transfer payments, EI benefits and the Canadian social safety net we would never survive, but is that true? I don’t know for sure that it is, do you? I doubt anyone does, and that’s the problem. We all have our suspicions one way or the other but none of us really knows for sure.

Consider that as a separate Nation all resource royalties/revenues, both on land and in the sea, would be available to NL. Control of the fisheries would be regained and hopefully rebound through the adoption an Icelandic style fisheries management model (formerly based on a NL study that was never implemented by government). Fees for everything from patents to passports to visas would enter the coffers. Control of immigration would allow NL to grow its knowledge and skills bases in the way that would work best for the new Nation.

The list of potential revenue streams to the Nation of Newfoundland and Labrador is a long one and includes the current federal portions of sales taxes, personal and corporate income taxes, company and employee EI premiums, Federal Pension Plan payments, alcohol and tobacco taxes, gasoline taxes and the list goes on.

What needs to be determined is if the revenue streams available are sufficient to offset the various transfers and supports currently available as a part of the Dominion. It may turn out that they don’t, but regardless of the outcome of the study, the information should be shared with every man, woman and child in the Province. It is only then that the public should be asked where they stand and it is only then the true level of support for separation can be determined. After imparting that kind of knowledge to the population the people of Newfoundland and Labrador will be able to make an informed decision.

If the numbers show that we are not capable of going it alone then our course is clear. There is no option but to fight, perhaps vainly, for a stronger voice in the Dominion. If it is found that Newfoundland and Labrador can indeed maintain, or even improve, its current standard of living then the separation option should be seriously considered and put before the people for a decision.

At this point in our history we shouldn’t be wasting our time yelling and screaming for separation. We shouldn’t be wasting our breath talking to un-heading political leaders about our lack of representation in Ottawa and we certainly shouldn’t sit and moan into our morning coffee about the raw deal we’ve gotten for the past sixty years. Instead of wasting our time on such things we should all, each and every one of us, pull together and use our combined energies to pressure the Provincial government into conducting a detailed study of our options.

Governments, as a rule love the status quo and they sure a hell won’t do anything of their own accord, but it’s amazing what can be accomplished when the will of an entire people is brought to bear on a single unified goal.

One voice can be lost in the wilderness, a hundred voices may rattle the cage of complacency but thousands of voices, singing as one, can cause even the strongest of walls to tremble and crumble into dust.