Newfoundland & Labrador, De-Confederation?

In what might be termed as a twist of fate, a quirk of history, or perhaps more accurately, as a major political shift, the two most popular leaders in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador appeared on the scene nearly six decades apart and represent completely opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Occasionally political leaders appear who naturally galvanize the spirit of an entire people. Newfoundland and Labrador has borne witness to two such leaders, in just under sixty years, in the form of Liberal premier Joey Smallwood and PC premier Danny Williams.

In their time both men captured the overriding sentiments of their people in a way few can, yet their actions and ideologies are so diametrically opposed that the support they each garnered speaks volumes about changing attitudes of voters since the Province entered Confederation.

It’s a fortunate fact that both leaders didn’t arrive on the scene at the same point in history. The fallout of such an event, the very impact of two such strong wills colliding and the flash that most assuredly would have resulted might have irreparably blinded every man, woman and child in the province, if not the Country itself.

Joey Smallwood, known to many in Canada as the last living Father of Confederation, is said to have led Newfoundland and Labrador into Canada kicking and screaming. Whether this is accurate or not, most assuredly he accomplished his objective by the shear power of his will and by the slimmest of margins.

Joey Smallwood was the most popular of leaders in his time but, make no mistake, the province’s entry into Canada was by no means a given. It was a bitter dog fight all the way and even today many open wounds remain. There are still those who question the validity of the referendum result and the very legality of the event itself.

In his day perhaps no leader on the face of the planet was more popular with his people than “Joey”. He reigned supreme in a time when the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador was at a low point and when the perceived benefits of entering Confederation could easily be trumpeted as manna from heaven, especially to those living under the worst of circumstances. Even so, the final tally on referendum day saw only a 2% majority opt into the Canadian experiment.

Fast forward sixty years and we find the people of Newfoundland and Labrador on the cusp of the brighter future espoused by Joey and his supporters so eloquently back 1949.

Generations have grown up, Smallwood himself has long since shuffled off this mortal coil, and still many in the province patiently await the dream their beloved leader spoke so generations ago. Even after sixty years the province still lags behind the rest of Canada in many ways but finally a glimmer of light has appeared on the horizon, thanks largely to resource revenues from the offshore and years of stubborn tenacity.

Many of the old scars from long ago, including those incurred during the tumultuous referendum battle, have yet to heal and many people blame the outfall of entering Canada as a major factor in the province’s painfully slow and very limited turn around.

Today oil revenues are flowing like a mighty river, the economy is leading the Nation but the Newfoundland and Labrador still has almost no voice on the federal scene and the highest unemployment rates in the Country.

Over the decades the federal government has presided over the collapse of the world’s greatest fishery, the backbone of Newfoundland and Labrador for five centuries. Ottawa promoted the removal of the province’s island wide railway and it left a land once recognized around the worlds as an international crossroads for shipping, military positioning and air travel with almost no international presence.

Ottawa refused to support Newfoundland and Labrador during the development of the Churchill River power project, in deference to Quebec, and in doing so allows the Province to struggle, until 2041, under a lopsided contract that sees billions flow to Quebec while Newfoundland and Labrador barely manages to keep the turbines turning and the dollars flowing westward.

Even today, as offshore oil flows like water and as the provincial economy leads the Nation, Newfoundland and Labrador finds itself battling Ottawa to gain much needed value from the resource.

The federal government refuses to allow the province to set time limits on oil developments, time limits that would prevent companies from sitting on valuable finds for decades. Ottawa has also remained silent on the future of the new Churchill River hydro project now in the early stages of planning. The federal government has yet to confirm whether or not it will support the development or even help ensure that Quebec does not hamper the transmission of this much needed power across the Country.

Joey Smallwood believed that Confederation would see a new and prosperous future visited upon his people. Today, generations later, thousands remain unemployed and thousands more leave every day, to work in the oil fields of Alberta or the factories of Ontario, splitting families apart. The fishery is a pitiful shadow of what it was in 1949 and most of those who still cling to it for survival do so for a pittance. Newfoundland and Labrador struggles under a crushing provincial debt and its crumbling infrastructure is costing provincial coffers hundreds of millions each year to maintain.

Enter Danny Williams. Like Joey Smallwood before him Newfoundland and Labrador’s newest Premier is a household name, every bit as popular as Smallwood himself. Unlike “Joey”, “Danny” does not spend his days extolling the virtues of Mother Canada, not by a long shot. Instead he has tapped into the long standing resentment and feelings of distrust that have stewed in the former Nation of Newfoundland ever since that oh so close vote six decades ago.

Williams, to all appearances, is nobody’s “federalist”. In fact he is not the least bit shy about attacking the actions (or inactions) of the federal government, of politicians and even of the Prime Minister himself. It’s an approach that has solidified his support and, while opening up many old wounds, appears to have also had a healing effect on many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

No longer is it acceptable in many circles when the term “Newfie” is flippantly tossed into the conversation. No longer are the people of Newfoundland and Labrador content to wait patiently for Ottawa to “do the right thing”. Today a renewed pride and sense of strength that has begun to emerge among a people long used to standing quietly on the sidelines with hat in hand.

By openly tossing out terms such as, “Autonomy” and “Masters of our own house” or by describing the people of Newfoundland and Labrador as “nation”, Danny Williams is sending a clear, direct and unmistakable message to Ottawa.

The message:

Newfoundland and Labrador was brought into Canada just an instant ago in the great expanse of history. It was delivered at the hands of a strong, focused and determined leader. Today, for better or worse, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are once again standing firmly behind a new leader with the same sort of strength, focus and determination. Like Smallwood before him Williams’ message is resonating in the hearts and minds of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Unlike his predecessor however, this Premier appears to have a very different view of the Canadian federation.