Before reading the following I offer a warning to our readers. The content of these comments may be very offensive to some of you. If it isn’t, you may want to reflect on what that might mean.
Just over one year ago I decided to focus my writing on issues of importance in Newfoundland and Labrador. I felt that outside the Province many people were under a misconception of who Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans really are, if they even cared at all. I felt the Province’s issues were being ignored by the rest of the Country and that people from this land were being looked down upon like no other in the Nation. In short, I had heard enough Newfie jokes and slurs against the people of this place and figured I’d say something about it.
Since that time I’ve commented on a number of topics. From the Atlantic seal hunt to fishing issues to oil development, federal inaction and even provincial triumphs. Throughout the process I’ve received hundreds, perhaps even thousands of comments on my articles. Some of the comments received have been supportive, others have not. No matter which side of an issue the comments come down on, as long as they truly discussed the issue, I read them and when possible responded.
Sometimes however I recieve the kind of response from outside the Province that really inspires me to continue the journey I’ve embarked upon. No, the comments aren’t complimentary of my words, nor do they show support for my stance on an issue as one might think. More often than not these comments come from people who serve to strengthen my resolve by proving to me that my efforts are nowhere near complete. They are comments that show very clearly that the old attitudes of dismissal, belittlement and hatred still exit towards people from this Province.
My words alone could never prove the point better than the words in those comments themselves. Below is a sample of just a few of the responses to which I refer. I have received these after publishing various articles intended to discuss Newfoundland and Labrador interests or in some cases simply to talk about our Provincial history.
Comments:
From various animal rights defenders on the topic of the seal hunt:
"Newfie's are a blight and a curse"
"Asking us to respect Newfoundlanders is like asking us to have respect for the soldiers of the Third Reich.”
”Hope you all drown and your bodies preserved with frozen smiles.”
"I hope you guys are liking the floods,(after recent rains that washed out roads and houses)? Hope that they will continue… and that you will spend tons of money saving yourselves from the drownings you all deserve. We are not weeping a bit.”
“The sooner global warming covers the rock with sea water the sooner we can spend our hard earned money on something besides a helpless cause”
“You people are sick. I hope somebody skins your children alive and eats them in front of you”
On the topic of Ottawa showing support for farmers but not fishermen in the throne speech:
“Farmers do more for the country than fisherman. They feed us, they feed the world.”
On using the word “Newfie”:
“…you are ignorant if you think being anti-Newfoundlanders is racist.”
General comments on various arcticles:
“It completely amazes me how stupid you people are.”
“… arrange for a minor B-2 accident involving a low grade atomic weapon… and be done with you sorry ass sons of bitches once and for all…I mean, would anybody actually miss you?”
“…intelligence of the Neanderthals you never evolved from”
“my own children dressed as Newfies for Halloween.”
“until you do grow up and better yourselves, the world will treat you exactly like a whiny, petulant, ignorant barbarian should be treated”
“…Oh, sorry - A Newfie LEARNING???? What was I thinking?”
“You're right. This isn't a marriage (referring to Confederation). It’s an adoption, we're the parents and the child we brought home turned out to be a crack-baby."
” Let's see Harper follow through on his decentralization by cutting useless Newfies off from the welfare teet you've been sucking on since you joined up.”
“…turn on them and beat their asses (referring to Newfoundlanders) just like my four friends from Toronto pulverized (as they put it) the locals from St. John's. The sooner that happens, as far as I am concerned, the better for everyone.”
“You should be shot, all of you, on the spot. Not for killing seals and not for being stupid, just for being.”
There you have it. I've heard some people say for years that Newfoundlanders aren't treated like they should be in Canada. In fact many feel they are treated like second class citizens. There have been times when I too have heard the slurs, the jokes and the whispers but I never thought much of them. I realized that there are many Canadians who do not look down on Newfoundlanders at all, but as the preceeding comments show, there a still many others who do.
I used to wonder if feelings of being an outsider in Canada were just an example of our own low self esteem in this Province. I don't wonder anymore.
http://www.localnewsleader.com/brocktown/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=178705
ReplyDeleteJoin the club, seems to be alot of that going around. If you need more links they are all over. Written by every race now in Canada, they are writing about how they are treated differently and mostly for the worse. So much for our lack of racial discrimination here, as one blogger wrote. It is the same thing as racial discrimintaion, I would have to say and worse in some ways. Do not let it make you angry, then it wins, it beats you down and you will lose yourself, just do what you know is right. The world is getting crazy all over, cling to your brother and trust in him, that is about all we have to count on today. No matter how depressing it is.
Written by patriot:
I used to wonder if feelings of being an outsider in Canada were just an example of our own low self esteem in this Province. I don't wonder anymore.
I felt sorry for yens when I read this.
ReplyDeleteNot as sorry as I do for those who support you with their tax money,
so as you can live there and be lazy.
Ever heard of moving to where work is?
Not as sorry as I feel for the wildlife you destroy in three or four days,
that will keep you in money for the 6 months you do not get your pog. What is to be said
of people who will kill innocent wild babies for money? Guess you like that huh? Only working
a week. What are people to think of someone like that? Babies stripped for fur.
So you can have it easy the rest of the year.
As the old saying goes "You made your bed," lie in it. You will "die how you live", nature calls for it.
Not one single negative thing said about you people out there, still mooching and living for mostly free,
has ever been proven false, not even the classifieds looking for the Newfoundland employees
who will not work..
So you believe Canadians should let their kids do without something that they want, or need
so as you can live out there as your merry heart desires on their hard worked for dollars?
I just want to know who the heck you think you are, with your you owe me attitude?
Sounds to me like Canadians are just sick of it.
You were wrong about another thing, the contempt is not getting better towards you, try worse.
I love how you use the Aboriginals as a means to be useless.
I take it back, I do not feel sorry for yens, I just do not care what happens to ya anymore.
You have been spoon fed enough.
I am truly sorry for those of you who are trying to better the "Newfie" name, and keep getting
their legs swiped out from under them because of those on your rock who choose to cry oh wo, me, and mooch
all of the time.
That is who of you I am sorry for.
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteI'm a Newfoundlander who moved from St. John's almost 10 years ago. I moved to a town on BC's North Coast (Prince Rupert). There are a lot of Newfoundlanders here.
Many of the locals, though, share some of the same opinions and attitudes reflected by the comments you quoted.
What I think is great is that I came here to work in the education field, in particular, I do educational computing stuff. So when I get comments about "stupid ignorant Newfies", I can always counter with "man, if Newfies are stupid, then what does that say about people in BC that bring Newfies here to _teach_ them."
I also have taught a lot of people a hard lesson about making "dumb Newfie" jokes -- pretty much every single person who has made a "dumb Newfie" remark has subsequently asked me to help them with some technical computer issue. Of course, my response is always "how could a dumb Newfie ever help you?"
Be proud to be a Newfoundlander, and be proud of your intelligence. Those who make fun of Newfoundlanders are ignorant, in the true sense of the word. They have no idea what Newfoundlanders are about, what makes us proud and what makes us stick together.
Miguel
Gee, do you think you have an image problem?
ReplyDeleteBarbara from BC here.
ReplyDeleteOh, please forgive us for not noticing the tremendously positive influence and respect you have given to the rest of us Canadians.
I have seemed to over look that small fact. Somehow it seems to have gotten lost in the ever growing Government "help" checks written to your province.
I think it might be between this Canadian statistics report and the one that brags so loudly about your rising school drop out rate. Then again, it could be under the pictures on the news of baby seal butchered for fur. Who knows in all the clutter, where it could be?
While the rest of us Canadians try to maintain respectful and useful employment status, you people who insist we owe you our hard earned tax money for some kind of "Newfie" joke relief fund, we suffer to those who normally help to supply our livelyhood. Why? Because first we give you our hard earned money, second we bring you to where we are and pay your way while you better yourselves in training (this I do not mind as much), third, while you make it easy not to work for yourselves, the world is judging us for your actions. (4-25 I think you have the picture). No, maybe it is not all of you, however, if you do not speak out, you allow it and are just as quilty. 74% is a high percentage of you in this catagory, after all. I guess then it is easy for us to confuse ourselves and just not see positive influences you have made on us and our children, so can you please remind me again? What are they?
I have never told a "Dumb Newfie" joke in my life, after all con artist's are always very sharp.
"You will "die how you live"
ReplyDeletebnb,
What I think was meant by this quote, was that we all die by how we live, you included.
It is generally used to make someone look into themselves for change, in opposite of trying to get
others to change. With this blog I would assume that is what you are wanting people to do, either
that or feel guilty for their hate mongering, as it was put.
Was not my comment, but this is not an arian "thing" either.
Hitler was an Arian buff and was not religious. It is a quote
from all religious writings from the core of every
known religion. It is also a well known re-quoted time and again
secular quote, so I am sure you have heard it before,
we all have.
It seems to hold a good measure of "truth"
if you are even the slightest bit interested.You would not be,
it might then cause you to look twice at yourself and turn from
the ways that have caused this hatred from your very own countrymen
in the first place. I doubt very seriously this "hatred" came from
the thin air.
I do not know much about it, except for most bloggers from all
the blogs I have read, when asked to comment on Newfoundlander's,
they all write the same way and are full of the same issues
as to why the hatred exist.
Mark
I'm very sad people say such terrible things about Newfoundlanders. I've met many when I lived in Halifax and Toronto and never met one I didn't like! You have lots of friends in New Brunswick and across the country where there are lots of rural communities who understand your economic situation.
ReplyDeleteWe are just starting to get internet access and thus connected enough to learn the truth about these matters. Together we can succeed in our demands that the government stop ignoring our needs and forcing us to move around like cattle at the will of their big industry partners.
Want an example?
30 Newfoundlanders just moved to Cap Pele, New Brunswick to work in the fish plants, right? Has anyone wondered why New Brunswickers aren't working there themselves? I personally know at least 20 people who used to work in the fish plants but they were forced to move out because of changes in government UIC policy!
Nobody could afford the gas to travel to work for 2 and 3 hour shifts when the hours could not be added to the next week to make a week's work ie: collect a stamp. Therefore, New Brunswickers were forced out of those jobs so the companies need to import workers who will live at the job site.
The former employees were forced to move away, get different jobs in the cities or go on welfare if they had no other job skills or ability to move away.
It's not easy to move away. It costs a lot of money and emotional trauma for the whole family. Because of the internet and forums like these we will learn the truth about our neighbours and be able to identify the real enemy - these big industries that are intent on profits for their already wealthy shareholders instead of creating jobs to help sustain the people.
Newfoundlanders are not alone! There are many who care and are supporting of you but not to many have internet access.
Also, I notice a lot of Atlantic Canadian websites that just don't seem to get the idea that linking up is a good thing. The idea of blogging is relatively new but I did see a news special on it the other day so I hope more people will start getting involved.
Never give up hope! Take ACTION!
Want an example?
ReplyDelete30 Newfoundlanders just moved to Cap Pele, New Brunswick to work in the fish plants, right? Has anyone wondered why New Brunswickers aren't working there themselves? I personally know at least 20 people who used to work in the fish plants but they were forced to move out because of changes in government UIC policy!
Nobody could afford the gas to travel to work for 2 and 3 hour shifts when the hours could not be added to the next week to make a week's work ie: collect a stamp. Therefore, New Brunswickers were forced out of those jobs so the companies need to import workers who will live at the job site.
Lady_Celes
I still fail to see the positive relevance to this. Newfoundlanders are known for moving away, working a bit, then going back for six months to collect their government hand outs. I am shocked by this, none. The New Brunswickers were not forced out of their jobs, they just refused to move in order to support their families and live at the jobsite or near it. Sometimes we have to move. Whatever it takes.
People can live where they want, but if they are not up for the job, someone else should take it. We should not be forced to pay for those who refuse to move to support their family.
It's not easy to move away. It costs a lot of money and emotional trauma for the whole family.
Lady_Celes
Again, I fail to see the relevance.
And? Life is not always easy, you have to do what you have to do. Quit relying on the Governments piggy back rides at the expense of us taxpayers.
Us out here rely on ourselves. It is safer that way, and a hell of a lot more peaceful.
Barbara
OK a couple of quick comments because I was addressed directly.
ReplyDeleteBarbara from BC, apparently your name is on my payroll cheque, please point it out for me I can't see it. Ms. you are a biggot, you'll have to investigate yourself to deal with that, I'm not about to help you with it. I can however introduce you to Mark. Mark feels if there is an element of hatred against a group it must have an element of truth. Just like blacks are lazy, Italians are dirty, Jew are cheap. Is that the idea Mark.
Mark - Barbara, Barbara - Mark.
On another point Mark I was commenting on the phrase "we die by how we live" simply as being the particular phrasing that that particular anon likes to use. I made the point that the anon posting is likely coming from the same handful of people and used the specific phrasing as an example. Thanks for the explaination of the phrase though - but completely unnecessary.
Before I let you go - if you get to meet Barb tell her I look forward to my next cheque but ask her if I can have a raise. Price of gas is nuts.
Mark was just commenting that in several blogs he has begun to see the same
ReplyDeletereplies about Newfoundlanders, by different people, as to what the true problem is
between Canadians as a whole and Newfoundlanders, but you would assume they are all
part of one "special" group, which is totally insane.
Let us assume 400 people say they have undeniable proof of the lifestyle of the higher
percentage of Newfoundlanders, then they show the proof to a jury of 12. I guess the
higher majority of you is as claimed.
I am not the one who wrote the, oh how sad am I blog, for comment. I am not
the one with problems of people hating me with a list as long as the atlantic
and back. The ones posting their complaints on the negative responses they are
getting from various individuals, should expect either more of the same and suck
it up or not whine about it in the first place. Or change it.
I am not one of that group, whomever "that group" may be and I will say it also, we
die how we live. I think it was pretty good myself.
Who said anything about blacks, jews or Italians here bnb? You. I thought
the blog was about Newfoundland phrases of dislike?
Oh and about Barbara, since she is Canadian she has a right to complain about
welfare being payed to people who will not work, if you get a check or not.
A larger portion of Newfoundland does. So we speak about the majority, and the
majority does get her tax money.
You are welcome Barbara, however I do not think too much of meeting people I find
in blogs.
Mark
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThose comments make me so angry. But you know what? If someone with those opinions turned up at my door, with me knowing their opinions, and they needed help, I'd still help them as best I could. Why? Because that's the way I was raised. You help your family, friends, neighbours, and strangers. As long as you have it to give, you give it.
ReplyDeleteThe only people I've ever heard of expressing those kinds of derogatory comments about Newfs are Canadians. Americans love us for what we did on 9/11, though we only recieved those planes because Canada thought we were expendable. The French love us for what we did at Beaumont Hamel, when the Newfoundland Regiment followed ill-given orders from the British commanders, and fought with all they could without turning back. An entire generation of young Newfoundland men died in that war. But to a lot of Canadians? We're stupid, ignorant, whiny, expendable, barbarians.
I'd like to see some of those people living in one of the outport towns, working on a trawler or in a fish plant, and not turn to one of our hunts for food or money or both. But I have to thank them for something, they make me proud to be a Newfoundlander - and I'll always be that first.
I don't believe for an instant that it is most Canadians who make those insults, especially not Atlantic Canadians. There are some people like Anon who are hateful but they are not the majority in this country. I think they are actually a very small group and like Mr. Williams said about Peta, no doubt the FBI has files on them too!
ReplyDeleteTo the anon that posted the words of PW.
ReplyDeleteMany of Myles quotes were the words of this man. "Blight and a curse who debased Canada when they joined" "asking us to respect Newfoundlanders is like asking us to respect soldiers of the Third Reicht" here's some more PW words of wisdom "Jesus was not talking about Newfoundlanders when he said the meek shall inherit the earth"
He said this about Newfoundlanders specifically. Not Sealers, not seal supporters... the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
If you have no problem with this you have to ask yourself some serious questions. Like supporting an organization that promotes hatred against a group (yes it is Racism - but I'm sick of explaining that NL is indeed a race by definition). You'll also have to ask yourself if you support an organisation that claims to be based on compassion but makes statements of hatred against a group of people like that.
If you ask yourself these questions seriously and still support PW you are either a person with some inherent values who will take the issue to PW and explain your problem with these statements. Or perhaps you will latch your wagon to another horse otherwise you are a proven hypocrite. Perhaps (and I suspect this is the majority) a blind sheep who follows the shepherd by the smell he leaves.
If you are the later I would hope that your shepherd doesn't leap from a cliff.
(on another note I think Mark and Barbara are the same person, notice how he starts by saying "Mark was just commenting..." then he signs it Mark. I think he forgot which persona he was writing under. Creepy)
I bet Myles made most or all of those quotes up.
ReplyDeleteanon - easily solved - which one do you want sources on... I've got 'em :)
ReplyDeleteLet me give you one as a show of faith:
"Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth." One thing for sure, Jesus Christ was not referring to the sealers of Newfoundland when he made that statement."
Direct quote PW on his hate blog at textamerica.com Posted on 4/26/2005 6:14:55 PM
Hey anon, if you are going to accuse me of being a liar and making up the quotes the least you can do is use a name we can pin on you rather than doing it anonymously.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if you took the initiative of simply reviewing the comments section on some of the articles on this site, even in the past month, you would find many of them. Why don't you take the heroic effort of actually looking over the site you are on before calling someone a liar next time.
Not only is this product illegal in the United States, it is being marketed as a health food supplement despite the fact that the product contains DDT, arsenic, PCB's, and mercury.
ReplyDeleteSelling poison in capsules made from the cruel massacre of harp seal pups is hardly a business ethic to be proud of.
Powerful stuff that seal oil. Dying of cancers out there yet? I guess we have not forgot your part time job yet.
Hey folks, this thread has nothing to do with salmon or seals.
ReplyDeleteIf you wish to continue posting on the seal topic please try to do so on the right thread.
Thanks,
Myles
Paul Watson is a great Canadian to whom you are all in green envy of.
ReplyDelete(or should be, look at you in comparison)
If you had half as much heart in your body as people like him have in their pinky,
you would not be selling toxins and killing innocent infant seals for profit.
It is for the money right? What you would do for that is very obvious, it includes
everything or anything.
I think I know who Newfies are to me, look at this and their reaction to it.
You can say any little thing you want, your words are spoken in vain, they are
rampant reputitions filled with denial of the things most know to be true! I am sure
deep down you even know it. Are you too proud of this lifestyle to change? The answer is no,
you are to heartless to change. It is why there happens to be ever growing contempt and words of anger,
you have always been this way, you will never change your lifestyle, sad, pitiful, blinded by greed.
I am sure you can finish with many more words in describing yourselves, no doubt you have heard them all.
last chance folks. Once again, this thread has nothing to do with the seal hunt. if you continue to post comments on this thread that have nothing to do with it I'll be forced to start deleting them.
ReplyDeleteYour best bet is to post them where they belong so people can read them who are interested in that topic. Otherwise I'll need to remove them and nobody will see what you have to say.
Patriot it was a post on who Newfoundlander's are to them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you forget what they are suppose to be posting on?
If you do not want the replies you are getting, do not open the door.
That is all I have to say about it.
The anon just before you wrote this last time, did exactly that, told how and why she or he feels the way he or she does.
Most did the same, you just have to read between the lines sometimes.
You started this blog. If you do not like the results, write on something else.
You asked this question. Who is a Newfoundlander to You? What did you expect?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI expect hair splitting and sneaking in comments through the back door by anon supporters of people like Paul Watson. That doesn't mean I have to allow it to continue. Please don't try to tell me that a comment which starts by talking about seal oil capsules and another that spends most of it's time talking about how great Paul Watson is are anything but anti-sealing messages.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, comment on the proper threads or they will be removed. As dumb as some of you folks think we are here, we are not dumb enough to believe that those comments are anything but anti-sealing.
Sounds like a serious threat to me. YOU WILL BE DELETED.
ReplyDeleteOn second thought, it could be that image problem.
In reading the comments, I think they are anti-newfie sealer comments and those who stand up for it. Newfoundlanders' are still sealers, correct?
In case you are not aware of this, most of the feelings towards newfies are caused from sealing and welfare. What did you want, for us to tell you who we think you are, but not why?
How does that work exactly?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I have had to turn on comment moderation so I can once again baby sit the anti-sealing contingent.
ReplyDeleteThey don't seem to have the intelligence to understand what staying on topic means as is evidenced by the person who keeps posting Watson love litrature on this thread even though there is a pefectly good seal hunt thread in the index.
Anyway just as was the case last year at this time I have had to resort to reviewing comments prior to allowing them to be published. Since the weekend is here it may be a day or two before your comments are reveiwed and posted and for that I apologize.
I can assure you that if a comment is truly on topic I will not hold it back and will let it go asap upon checking it. It's funny really. The only time I've ever had to do this before was because of the anti-sealing folks and its not like I mind what they have to say if they only had enough sense to present their arguements in the right place. Not very bright I guess.
Thanks for providing a test case Anon. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteSteve here,
ReplyDelete*chuckling to himself*.. Just got the chance to catch through the barking of the seals.
Patriot, I feel sympathy for you, but at least for once the technical guys who set blogspot up have hit a term right on the head, that is...
Comment moderation has been enabled
If only getting that result were that easy .... **sigh**
One comment about the hate and vitriol that abounds and yes, the racism shown towards Newfoundlanders by others. In my humble opinion each basic human right has a corresponding basic human responsibility.
For the right of speech one should have to pay the toll of courtesy
You have been put in the unfortunate position of being the toll booth.
Hopefully, come June, it will die down again.
you mean you are viewing comments and the ones that you like, you keep?
ReplyDeleteWell this turned out to be a blog many will flock to I am sure. Keep up the good communism.
Really funny? Your piece has a ton of seal stuff in it, yet you delete comments related to the seals you do not like.
ReplyDeleteYou folks keep reinforcing the insipid. Stop whining and self-assess.
I absolutely agree with comment moderation. Insults and personal attacks have no place in a good debate! There are some diseases you simply don't mess with, you get a surgeon and cut it out. I put hateful messages in the same category and they immediately loose their right to free speech.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would never have started a thread highlighting all those negative comments, they would have all been deleted. I firmly believe that it is only a select few people who have such negative feelings about Newfoundlanders. I've met people all across Canada and they all say....
You couldn't meet a better person than a Newfoundlander!
He'd give ya the shirt off his back!
Hardest God dam working men I ever seen!
You wouldn't want to tackle a Newfoundlander boy, he'd sure sit you on your ass!
The women are bold and beautiful but not too big!
I never laughed so hard my whole life as the time I met this Newfoundlander.... ROTFLMFAO....
Friendliest people in the world! Don't let nobody ever tell ya anything different!
They don't seem to have the intelligence to understand what staying on topic means
ReplyDeleteIt must be fun having dinner at your house.
Do you force your guests to stay on topic as they converse?
Helen from Calgary but transferred to Newfieland:
ReplyDeletePeople in Newfoundland are stubborn, whiny, fatalistic, and love to be martyrs. I can't wait to get out of here.
One more thing.....have any of you ever sat down and took a good, long, hard look at yourselves to see WHY the rest of the country thinks these things???
ReplyDeleteCome on, be honest.
well anonymous from Calgary - whats stopping you. I believe theres several flights a day from st john's sirport, theres also the possiblity of leaving by ferry.
ReplyDeleteAs fot your comments on newfoundlanders being "whiny, fatalistic, and love to be martyrs" have you looked in a mirror lately you seemed to have come on a website for the sole purpose of whining and telling everyone what a martyr you are for living in NFLD.
Helen from Calgary but transferred to Newfieland:
ReplyDeletePeople in Newfoundland are stubborn, whiny, fatalistic, and love to be martyrs. I can't wait to get out of here.
You are a perfect example of what Myles was referring to. Why could you not have been, ‘Helen from Calgary but transferred to Newfoundland & Labrador’? The amount of ignorance and arrogance steaming from what you (and other smug mainlanders) write is overwhelming.
Canada is advertised to the world as a land of equality, to whom I may ask? I have travelled the world, and have tried to be as accepting and understanding as I can to all people and cultures. That was how I was raised, and it amazing me that so many people in Canada, like yourself, are the exact opposite. How can we be expected as a Country to show compassion and understanding to the rest of the world, when we can not even achieve it within our own country? No group of people – wherever you are - deserve to be so easily labelled!
I do have to agree with you on one point though, I am stubborn. Very stubborn in the regard that one day, I can travel coast to coast in the great Dominion of Canada and see everyone treated as equals.
In the meantime, Helen from Calgary, you can’t wait to get out? That is great to hear, please take you bigotry along with you and don’t let the door hit your ass on your way out.
Well Helen from Calgary
ReplyDeleteI suppose the irony about coming onto a website to moan about how Newfoundlanders are whiny and love being martyrs escapes you.
There are several flights a day leaving St john’s failing that there is a ferry service.
But maybe you are one of these people who like to whine and tell everyone what a martyr you are.
Well Helen from Calgary
ReplyDeleteI suppose the irony about coming onto a website to moan about how Newfoundlanders are whiny and love being martyrs escapes you.
There are several flights a day leaving St John’s failing that there is a ferry service.
But maybe you are one of these people who like to whine and tell everyone what a martyr you are.
A recent article that provides some insight to the out-migration within the Far East of Canada
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...eRequested=all
Cape Breton may be where the heart is, but the paycheque is six provinces away
Many men from the struggling island are enduring long separations from their families while working the oil sands of Alberta
JANE ARMSTRONG
DONKIN, N.S. -- When they were kids, they played on the Cape Breton cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The goal for the boys of Donkin was to never leave this picturesque corner of Canada, where every bend in the road brings an unparalleled view of the sea.
The men still live here and raise their families in this village of 500, but many work nearly 4,000 kilometres away, in the oil sands of northeastern Alberta. Each day at work, men like Robin Clarke, Wayne Pinhorn and Dwayne Howie tally the personal cost of travelling six provinces from home to earn a paycheque.
For Mr. Clarke, 32, the breaking point came last fall when his three-year-old son phoned from Donkin, asking for a magic wand "so I can wave it and make you come home."
The matter-of-fact plea nearly knocked Mr. Clarke off his scaffold at the Syncrude plant outside Fort McMurray. "I said, 'This is it. I'm not doing this any more. It's not worth it.' "
But Mr. Clarke stayed in Alberta another month. He came home for Christmas and would have returned to Fort McMurray after the holiday, but his wife, Cherie, was eight months pregnant.
Mr. Clarke wasn't the only homesick worker.
There are roughly 15,000 so-called commuters who work in the Alberta city of 75,000, but have permanent postal codes and families elsewhere. Many are from Canada's East Coast.
Last winter, the women of Donkin joked that theirs was a town with no men.
At the fire department, nine of the 23 volunteer firefighters were working in Alberta. Its chief, Bruce Howie, a lobster fisherman who is Dwayne Howie's brother, said he, too, might head to Alberta this fall.
Canada's airlines have noticed the trend. Air Canada recently added direct flights from Fort McMurray to St. John's and Charlottetown.
The contrasts between the struggling Cape Breton region and the super-charged Fort McMurray economy are striking. Fort McMurray has an unemployment rate of about 4 per cent. Cape Breton's jobless rate hovers near the 20-per-cent mark.
In Fort McMurray, a skilled tradesperson can clear up to $2,000 a week -- labourers only slightly less -- and bank nearly every penny of it because their room and board is paid for.
Dwayne Howie, 51, has worked every day since arriving in Alberta on Jan. 29, clocking more than 100 hours a week. In Cape Breton, the former coal miner and father of two sent out 400 applications after the last Cape Breton mine closed in 2001.
Observers say Cape Breton is losing a generation of skilled tradespeople, mostly men, at a faster rate than anywhere else in Canada, except Newfoundland.
Business, labour and civic leaders say the out-migration is not a new phenomenon; over the last four decades, as the steel and coal industries declined, the men of Cape Breton traditionally left the island to chase big construction projects.
What is new is the sheer number of men leaving every couple of months. And now, the new destination is almost exclusively Alberta, specifically Fort McMurray, 450 kilometres north of Edmonton.
Cliff Murphy, president of the Cape Breton Building Trade Council, said more than half the island's 3,600 tradespeople found work in Alberta last year.
The economic benefits to this eastern Cape Breton region are obvious. Cape Breton workers earn millions of dollars each week in Alberta, which they bring home to spend. They buy cars and boats and build dream homes. Mr. Clarke and his young family live in a three-year-old, 2,800-square-foot home, set on 10 acres overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
But civic leaders are anxious. Out of every handful of men and women who leave Cape Breton with the goal of returning home, at least one of them leaves for good. The region's population has been steadily declining since the early 1960s. In Cape Breton Regional Municipality, which includes Sydney, Glace Bay and Donkin, the population dropped from 162,000 in 1996 to 109,000 last year. It's predicted that by 2021, the region will have fewer than 75,000 people.
John Whalley, the municipality's manager of economic development, can only watch helplessly as the shrivelling population forces schools and playgrounds to close. Rather than planning a future community, "we are managing a decline," Mr. Whalley said.
Despite the millions of dollars brought home to Cape Breton, the economic picture here remains bleak. If anything, the Alberta-bound commuters who stubbornly refuse to abandon Cape Breton are simply stemming the region's inevitable decline.
"I'll never live anywhere else," said Wayne Pinhorn, 27, who recently returned from Fort McMurray.
He's engaged to Allison Peach, a kindergarten teacher from Donkin. After the September wedding, Mr. Pinhorn will return to Alberta. He has never had full-time, steady employment in Cape Breton.
When Marlene Howie's husband Dwayne left Donkin in January, the couple's 18-year-old daughter, April, cried for two days. Their son, Sean, 20, retreated to his bedroom. The couple hadn't spent a night apart in 22 years of marriage.
Cherie Clarke was five months pregnant when her husband, Robin, left for Fort McMurray in September, along with five other Donkin men.
Ms. Clarke, 31, threw herself into her job as a physiotherapist in nearby Glace Bay, often bringing home work to keep her busy at night. Their three-year-old son Tye asked every day when his dad was coming home, so she made a calendar for the fridge. Tye put a sticker on each day that passed.
The dearth of job opportunities in Cape Breton and the family separations that result when men leave raises the inevitable question: Why don't families relocate to where the jobs are plentiful?
But it's a question that rankles. Many Cape Bretoners, like Newfoundlanders, prefer to be home. It's as if generations of coal mining has bred a stoicism in the Cape Breton character and they are willing to endure hardships to stay on the island of their forefathers.
Mr. Pinhorn's fiancée, Ms. Peach, 26, put it this way: "You can make a lot of money or you can live here. But you can't have both."
Ms. Clarke studied at Queen's University in Kingston, but never adapted to the hectic Central Canadian pace. "It felt really cold there," she said. "I couldn't get used to how you don't make eye contact with people on the street. I found it difficult to live like that."
Ms. Howie feels the same way about the town where she was born. "I don't know if it's the calmness or what it is," she said. "It's the people, too. You know your neighbours. Your family is all around you. You feel safe."
But permanent unemployment can be as devastating as the prospect of separation. By January, Mr. Howie was desperate. The severance he received in 2001 from the coal mine where he worked for 24 years had run out.
Last fall, Mr. Howie heard that labourers were needed to help lay a pipeline near Fort St. John, on the B.C.-Alberta border. He asked his childhood friend and former fellow coal miner, Blair Hunter, to go west with him. In late January, Mr. Howie made one phone call and, five days later, he and Mr. Hunter were on a plane to Grande Prairie, Alta.
Mr. Howie's departure was a dramatic shock to the close-knit family. At first, their days revolved around his rationed phone calls home. Ms. Howie did not want to leave the house for fear of missing a call.
"April will go to her boyfriend's, then call home six times, asking, 'Did Dad call? Did Dad call?' Ms. Howie said.
With no cellphone coverage at Mr. Howie's camp and just one pay phone, calls home are brief because there's a long queue of men waiting to call out. Ms. Howie prepares a list of questions to ask and tells herself to sound upbeat. She's never mentioned April's crying jag.
The first night Mr. Howie telephoned home, he was so homesick he could barely speak. Sean had friends over playing cards and Mr. Howie heard the laughter.
"I could tell he had a lump in his throat," Ms. Howie said.
In time, though, the gruelling, physical work was a tonic for Mr. Howie, who had been idle for years. He tells his wife he finds the winter Alberta landscape beautiful.
Her children, she said, stepped up while their father was away, with Sean clearing snow and running errands. Mr. Howie used to drive April to nearby University College of Cape Breton University in the mornings. She now has her driver's licence, another milestone Mr. Howie missed.
Coming home to a young, growing family after a long stint in a work camp can be a jarring experience, even for the homesick.
When Mr. Clarke stepped off the plane last December, he was stunned by the changes in Tye in just three months. "His hair was darker," Mr. Clarke said. "He looked older. It wasn't the picture I had in my mind."
His son, who had begged him on the phone to come home, was suddenly shy. The first days together as a family were an adjustment.
"When you're not at home, you develop your own pattern," Mr. Clarke said. Many of his co-workers in the camps have been divorced more than once. "It's not rocket science," he said. "If you're not at home, it's hard to keep your family together."
For Mr. Clarke, the call from Tye last fall was a wake-up call. He vowed to start his own business in Donkin so he wouldn't have to leave again.
But there is a dawning realization among many residents that these long separations are the new normal.
There is no work in Cape Breton for a man of Mr. Howie's age and skills, and few opportunities for young people.
In a couple of weeks, Mr. Howie will return home to his beloved Cape Breton and spend the summer pursuing his favourite pastimes of fishing and golfing.
But next fall he will be Alberta-bound again. And next time, the couple's son Sean plans to travel west to be with his dad.
Helen, let's put your words to the biggot test:
ReplyDelete"People in China are stubborn, whiny, fatalistic, and love to be martyrs."
...or try going to a Southern Baptist congregation of African-Americans, stand in the middle and say "have any of you ever sat down and took a good, long, hard look at yourselves to see WHY the rest of the country thinks these things"
Good luck with that...
Prejudice and hatred is alive and well and has hopped a flight from Calgary. We really have to screen better at the airports.
To Helen:
ReplyDeleteI'm very sorry your stay in Newfoundland and Labrador was so painful. I know how hard it is to be away from home as I too have travelled with my husband's law firm.
I completely understand your feelings of isolation in this province. I have lived in St John's for almost 3 years now and I still feel a bit on the "outside". Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy living in this beautiful province and have made many dear friends. Most of my friends, however, are also "from away". It seems that many (not all) native Newfoundlanders are very wary and distrustful of anyone coming here to live. Almost like "what do you want and what are you going to take from us?" It is quite understandable given their history but I agree Helen, very hard on those of us who were sent here as tag-a-longs and just want a nice place to raise our families, without feeling like intruders.
In another year or so, I too will be heading back to the West and I am looking forward to going home. I will, however, take back many wonderful memories of Newfoundland and its people. I truly belive you have to take people as individuals and not let a few negative ones spoil the barrel.
No place on earth is perfect and all we can do is embrace the differences and go along for the ride. There are a few people in Alberta I could do without too!
I've learned many things here, seen some amazing things, and will miss Ches's Fish and Chips!!
I will never, however, get used to cod tongues or Screech (hehe).
Hope you are happier back home Helen.
God Bless.
Kathleen.
Newfoundland produces 40% of our oil and contains 80% of Canada's reserves. Unless we want to be driving hybrid cars we should probably be nicer to them ;)
ReplyDeleteoh and i guess we should be nicer to islamic extremist for oil also, right anon? You Newfies are what everyone claims for sure. These last pictures in newfoundland, those of the seal hunt that makes you so famous are the most barbaric ever just in case you do not know that. There is a film of a hunter holding a seal while skinning it and the babe is struggling and reaching around mouth open. Guess that is just nerves also huh? Sicko's. That is why we all feel you are totally unsalvagable. That and your need for more and more government child support. What a disgusting race of inbreds. Do anything for a bit of easy money. 10,000 dollars in a few days for killing innocent creatures for their fur, I would have to say you are the worst species of todays world.
ReplyDeleteAnon #2. I don't know how to drive the point home to you. Let me give you some words from a correspondance I had with a gentleman Darryl Braun. I'm assuming he is not opposed to me using his name since the conversation we had was most civil and the e-mail he sent to me was unsolicited.
ReplyDeleteDarryl is a volunteer member of at least one ARA group so hopefully he can connect to you where N&L cannot because of your mental block.
The e-mail was titled "No absolutism"
TD, I am an opponent of the seal slaughter, but I do appreciate your point. I despise absolutism, and would never deem to make a blanket statement against Newfoundlanders and Labradorans. When I correspond with Canadian activists who tell me they are ashamed to be Canadians, I tell them that they should not be. I am strongly opposed to what the government has been doing in the US, and in particular, to the war in Iraq. But I am not ashamed of being an American, because I know so many other Americans feel as I do. It would be illogical to say that Americans are all barbarians because our government is waging a war in Iraq.
Even if you are a NL who supports, or even participates in the slaughter, I will not hurl invectives and curses. Like ******, I am disgusted by the slaughter and will actively oppose it, but I will not dehumanize those who engage in it, and I would want them to extend the same courtesy to me.
Darryl
As Newfoundlanders, those who do not voice their disappoinment in these actions, allow it, and are just as quilty.
ReplyDeleteI am concerned, I work for a living and I try to do what is right for my environment and my neighbors, even strangers. As far as newfoundland is concerned a large portion of my tax dollars and others tax dollars as well, go to Newfoundland, in our wonderful country Canada, our Government ignores the true needs of others while it feeds Newfoundlanders for mostly free, because of their ability to complain about little things the loudest. This awful killing of animals for fur, for a few days work only caters to the already existing need for change where the aspect of Government care has been allowing this for way too long.
If what you are doing never affects me so be it, if it never affects my country negatively, so be it, but it does. I have a right to bellow at the top of my ability, I also have the right to call it what it is. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well. Not only do most Newfoundlanders accept this "free" way, they also fight for the right to continue on this same path and never better themselves, so that their children may have some sort of real future. Whatever that takes. The children seeing them receive EI and then go out to kill for fur, wild mammals for the dollars that will keep them through, is teaching them an honest days work is not the "Newfoundland" tradition. You are teaching them that unless it pays well, and is quick "earnings" you may as well sit and collect free money. Maybe you do not know this pattern of events that continues from generation to generation, is taught.
The rest of Newfoundland, the ones who are speaking out, they know how I feel, they say it is true, the ones who are not, they also know how I feel. Trust me, your children are learning, what you teach them. Yeah one or two go off and make a good life, but what about the tons (majority)of others that carry this tradition to the end? It is a crying shame not to want any better for your future generations than what you have always done. I have a right to say this as I have been affected by your actions as a whole, remember a majority agree with these things in NL and will continue to suck us for money (the majority of you) and kill for a living wild mammals or whatever makes money for you (enough to destroy a culture's positive reputation countrywide and worldwide) This "lifestyle like tradition" should be a thing of the past in a world so desperate for change, if any of you want any hope of a successful future, for your own children.
I, like the majority of Newfoundlanders work for a living and I do not appreciate the comments of someone like the previous Anon who say that most of us are living off of his or her tax dollars. We are not.
ReplyDeleteYes there have been federal dollars used to support people here but there tax dollars are also used for EI in Ontario, Quebec and across Canada.
I got to laugh at people who always call money going to NL a handout. You never hear that when billions go to bail out Bombardier in Quebec or hundreds of millions are used to support farmers or the Ontario auto industry. No, then it is doing what is right for Canadians but when a much smaller amount is used in NL it's suddenly a handout to the lazy newfs. Your ani-NL sentiment is showing anon.
anon says, "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well"
ReplyDeleteYou quack like a hate monger.
If you honestly belief the majority of Newfoundlanders fit the image you have set in your head then I'm afraid there's not much I can do for you.
Step away from your computer on occasion and breath some air. A trip down-East would do you some good.
(Barb is that you?)
So you are arguing that 73% of residents in Newfoundland did not receive "help checks" last year of some type? The nearest other province to this was 41%? Then you need to get on the Government for their lies about you. You also need to tell those people looking for employees in your area to stop looking in mine with their help wanted classifieds, when you are wanting the jobs there, stand up and holler!!! After all your employment rate is the most outstanding correct? Who the heck is Barb?
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how people will see a statistic or hear a random piece of information and run off screaming as if they we an expert in the subject.
ReplyDeleteNewfoundlanders are living of Canadian tax dollars? I can not tell you how many times I have heard this… That is very interesting, because the last time I checked I ALSO PAY TAXES and, I did not see anyone else’s name on the check but the company I work for.
Also, not to give you my detailed financial picture, but I make well into the 6 figures, thus I pay MUCH MORE in taxes than the average Joe Canadian. However, after reading all the bullshit in this thread about this subject, I figured I would do a little high level calculation to figure out where the majority of my support taxes are going:
The population of Newfoundland & Labrador is roughly 515,000. With an unemployment rate of 15%, that would contribute about 77,000 unemployed persons to Canada.
The population of Ontario (where I currently live) is roughly 12,500,000. With an unemployment rate of 6.5%, that would contribute about 812,500 unemployed persons to Canada.
How much is it really costing Canadians to assist such a small number of people? There are almost twice as many people unemployed in Ontario alone than the ENTIRE population of Newfoundland & Labrador.
our Government ignores the true needs of others while it feeds Newfoundlanders for mostly free
ReplyDeletePlease elaborate. What are these TRUE needs that you are referring to?
Do anything for a bit of easy money. 10,000 dollars in a few days for killing innocent creatures for their fur, I would have to say you are the worst species of today’s world.
ReplyDeleteAll humane bullshit debating aside, if you seriously think that sealing is an easy way to make money, than I would say that you are delusional. But, this is not a debate on sealing, as if you are not aware, the hunt ended again successfully I might add with the highest prices for pelts EVER.
As to doing anything for money, would you not also do practically anything to feed and cloth your family?
If the worst species on earth were the ones killing an animal for their fur, we would be living in a much better place. However, that is not the case, and if you believe this, than do the entire planet a favor and wipe the shit out of your eyes.
Killing animal for fur is just the icing, look underneath at the cake of the species doing this. Ten to fifteen thousand dollars for four or so days is good, fast, easy money. That allows for a long rest in between. When that is gone, it is off to find employment insurance or new ways to make good, fast, easy money that allows a long rest in between. Oh now you are going to tell me sealing is as hard work as mining, emergency medicine, fire, police or transport? There are more people injured in these occupations in 6 weeks using the same amount of employees and the monetary gain does not even come close. It comes closer to that of a drug dealer or hit man. So give me a break. Sealing for 10 to 15 grand is not exactly hard work for pennies, when compared to other employment of higher standards. Think about all other jobs you can make that kind of money doing in a few days, it all includes something very immoral unless you want to go to college, which of course would not even pass the thoughts of those who do this and most who back it? So do not try to comapare this job, if you do, please compare it to a drug dealer or like I said, murder for hire because they are not easy (on the morals) jobs either, but appear very similiar to the eyes and mind. The money is good fast and easy compared to working 3 or 4 months for it as alot of people do. Ever heard of an honest days work for an HONEST days wages? Nope, that is why businesses are running ads for help outside of the province, would that not be fair to assume?
ReplyDeleteThose who are not involved in the seal hunt back it to the point they are allowing it to break the economy slowly but surely, one way or another of a whole province. It allows people to continue on the same paths of a past feeding off of the government. Easy money. Easy come, easy go.
Go ahead deny this is not true also. Denial is so sweet tasting, is it not?
Mr. Chills, I would like to answer this.
ReplyDeleteThe aboriginals TB outbreaks are rising, water conditions that are causing
whole reservations of people across Canada to become sick, while raising birth
defects and miscarriage rates. Flooding that needs to be dealt with seriously,
and not using the method of relocation year after year. The Inuits being used
for barrier flags, while living in extreme conditions, that they are angry about.
I could go on.
They live in conditions not fit for rats, without any modern necessaties and
receive far less government help than any other minority race in Canada. It was
their land first. Their living conditions are deplorable and that worse than some
third world conditions in many other countries today.
Aboriginal sealing license are fewer than the Government claims, it is not mostly
an aboriginal hunt, but contrary, only fourteen percent hold cards. This lie that
has been told is one I could not resist bringing up, based on more than
a few comments above.
Telling the Aboriginals not to consume the fish, but allowing fishermen who pay good
money, to come and fish the waters.
They are ignored and looked over. As we think our health care is perfect, their is a
Mete woman living near the Detroit border who desperately needs a bone marrow transplant.
A certain number are allowed annually on Government assisted insurance, so she waits!
A certain number of all major and some minor surgeries are allowed annually in an effort
to keep cost and wait times down. Tell me this, who do you think would get the last surgery
of this year, if it came down to that? Do not hold your breath.
Even though you may believe this is something that I have no absolute knowledge of, and that
I am just ranting like other posts in anger, you are very badly mistaken. I could list needs
of people being ignored until tomorrow, while others needlessly draw money from Government
assistance, where jobs truly are available for a great majority of these. The employment that
is not exactly "my cup of tea".
Yes, I have heard it all, more excuses as to not have to work, than good reasons to work.
Until the mentality to seek employment in majority changes, this will stare us in the face on
a daily basis, with no end in sight. The people outside the province will and can only rant and
rave, while those inside are the only ones with the ability to change it, they have to see it
first, then want it.
Truly,
Melba
mrchills, your statement, the population of Newfoundland & Labrador is roughly 515,000. With an unemployment rate of 15%, that would contribute about 77,000 unemployed persons to Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe unemployment rate is 21% and does not account for those over the age of retirement receiving checks, that never worked in your province, based on a Federal survey in late 2005. More than 41% of these employed in Newfoundland will seek government assistance of some type within the year. Essentially they are receiving any tax money they have payed into the province back within the year, in its entirety or by double.
Figure all of this in, while you are at it. Essentially people are paying taxes to collect it back. So who pays in the end to run the province? The tax payers there? How can that possibly add up?
The numbers of people employed in all other provinces and those who will receive EI within the same year or up to three years, can not closely compare to the numbers of Newfoundland. You also have to assume that tax money is not taken yearly for health insurance, that alot employed in that province receives these monies back also, where in most provinces those employed, stay employed at greater lengths of time and are unemployed by a smaller in between "jobs" period. And do not receive a majority of their in payed taxes back within a year to three. Did you factor in all of this?
Taking a survey every three months as the Federal Government does, shows the unemployment rate rises and falls more drastically in Newfoundland and Labrador, and always has the highest unemployment rate per capita and the highest infiltering of Government funding. Whether you accept this or not. Government funding is not just the checks written to individuals in any given province, it is also alot of other monetary factors that should be added in as well.
I would like to know where you are getting the 21% from, because every source that I have ever looked at recently, including stats Canada lists it at roughly 15% (http://www.statcan.ca/english/Subjects/Labour/LFS/lfs-en.htm)
ReplyDeleteThe rest of your rambling regarding not taking into account those with retirement checks that never worked is irrelevant, because that is the same regardless of where you go. All that does it add to the total of all other provinces.
Again due to the low population within Newfoundland & Labrador, statements such as …can not closely compare to the numbers of Newfoundland make little to no sense. The percentage per capita is higher, but to being an actual drain on the virtual pot of money from Ottawa, it is not that dramatic.
Government funding is not just the checks written to individuals in any given province, it is also alot of other monetary factors that should be added in as well.
My point exactly; however, the majority of Canadians only use these ‘factors’ when it benefits their ignorant point of view
Go ahead deny this is not true also. Denial is so sweet tasting, is it not?
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it is sweet tasting, I don’t really care for sweets.
To be honest, all I got from reading this was that you are comparing a Sealer to a drug dealer or a hit man. It may sound great in your head perhaps, but no so great in writing.
Do you assume that the boat and the gear that a fisherman uses are just ready and waiting to go? A boat is not a car. You don’t just wake up one morning, tell yourself that you are going to go steam 200 miles, turn the key and away you go. Anytime there is a quota for a certain species there is a major amount of work BEFORE and AFTER the actual harvest.
Saying that ALL of the work is completed in four days, would be the same as saying that the only work a farmer does when harvesting corn is actually pulling it from the stock.
Flooding that needs to be dealt with seriously, and not using the method of relocation year after year
ReplyDeleteI am very aware that Aboriginals are treated like trash within Canada and I sympathize very much with these people. However, a lot of the problems that they face are also faced by every other region and people within Canada. However based on your wording, you are more or less stating that they should come before anyone else in terms of assistance, basically, screw sending money to Newfoundland (or any other place); and let’s send it all to Aboriginal people.
Why do you sympathize for Aboriginals and not Newfoundlanders? It is because they are a visible minority? Every single person in Canada should be treated the same, no more, no less.
As we think our health care is perfect
Our Health Care is a JOKE. I work in the USA and live in Ontario and believe me, I would not go to a Hospital in Ontario if my life depended on it. I pay for Health Care in the USA and receive the greatest service I could imagine. However, I had to pay a $750 premium this year to the Province of Ontario for Health Care, even though I have NEVER set foot into a Hospital in Ontario. Do I rant and roar with bigotry and blame those damn Mainlanders with their lazy welfare asses because I have to pay this fee? If the roles were reversed and a person from Ontario was living in Newfoundland and had to pay this unnecessary charge, they would be cursing the ‘Newfie’s’ till they turned blue in the face.
Any person who lives and works in Canada pays into the system for the better of the entire country; it is called Socialism. Those who have the benefit of making more, pay more into the system to help ALL people. There are a lot of lazy people in Newfoundland, but we did not invent the breed, there are lazy people all across this Dominion. It amazes me that people like you feel better about yourselves when passing all the blame on to the stupid ‘Newfie’s’
Like MrChills I would also like to know your sources on the stats. Please.
ReplyDeleteOh shut up, you people are all fool, fools and tools. This stupid, pontless arguement is over-rated and redundant, I'm from Newfoundland and we DO NOT "mooch" off of the government. My mother is a teacher and my father is a
ReplyDeleteCONSERVATION officer, try reading into that since it seems like all you people do to pass the time is to read into pointless things that have no real importance or possible resolution. Boo hoo hoo, we take all your tax money, shut the hell up about it or we'll take all your jobs as well. "GO where the WORK is" come down here and try to tell me that, I have NEVER encountered such ignorance, and I am still in high school! Just because you know a few Newfie jokes it doesn't make you a comedian, so think about that the next time you try to be coy and say something you have absolutely no authority to say. Freedom of speech yes, but don't expect me to sit around and listen to it! Then again, you CAN'T educate the IGNORANT.
AMEN
Lady_Celes,
ReplyDeleteYou said you are "sad people say such terrible things about Newfoundlanders". I am and Newfoundlander and I am sad as well, but your comments after are what helps these false and negative perceptions of Newfoundlanders.
"these big industries that are intent on profits for their already wealthy shareholders instead of creating jobs to help sustain the people."
"Together we can succeed in our demands that the government stop ignoring our needs"
"Nobody could afford the gas to travel to work for 2 and 3 hour shifts when the hours could not be added to the next week to make a week's work ie: collect a stamp."
You talk so much about what the government should be doing for you. Remember, the Government doesn't have any money to help you. It's the tax payers who you are asking help from. So why should someone else have to work hard to pay your way. If you have to move for work, so be it! You said, "these big industries that are intent on profits", why else would they be in business if it wasn't for profit. Who would start a company and not want to make large profits. It's up to the individual to make his or her own way. You should stop thinking that you are owed something by the government. That is exactly what causes so many of these negative perceptions of Newfoundlanders.
As for a lot of the comments send by ignorant morons about Newfoundlanders…I can see that most of them are sent by far left-wing tree huggers who are so hurt by the seal hunt….get a life!
The 21% is an over all three year federal statistic, taken from the Strategis Canada Research Analysis, but it is actually 22.8%. It also
ReplyDeletefluctuates to a higher 31.2%, within three months of every year. You can get the EI analysis from the CEIC, all you have to do is ask for
the information. Take three years in your analysis to get a true number.
To all of you who are taking the opportunity and seeking gainful employment or already employed I say congrats and you are few of many. Somehow that
province is still stuck in a time of leaning on Government for what they can do for you. It is sad but true.
As someone stated earlier, the people outside the province will and can only rant and rave, while those inside are the only ones with the
ability to change it, they have to see it first, then want it.
The argument is useless and not worth having, but a better answer could be to make every one responsible for those in Canada being treated of less a value than the majority. Until we see those who are in the worst of conditions as equal to all and help them to better themselves without prejudice as to why it is in the first place, there will be no change.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnon: Brush up on your history:
ReplyDeleteEngland following WWII was off loading most of its colonies due to the economic devestation of the war.
Following WWII the Dominion of Newfoundland was also bankrupt from the war effort and other reasons.
England then proposed that the DON (Dominion of Newfoundland) join with one of the larger countries in the area.
Remaining with England was never an option and the ballot questions was intended to be "Should Newfoundland joing with the USA or Canada)"
In 1947 the option of joing the US was removed from the ballot question because of Canada's fear of US dominance along both of its coasts.
If Newfoundland had become the 52nd state the entrance to the St. Lawarence would have fallen within the US control.
The establishment of military bases in both Newfoundland and Labrador, its geographical location and the resource exploration which the US had conducted during the 40's made the province an attractive purchase.
Then the question was changed to "Do you want to join Canada or remain independent".
Despite being a welfare bum, Canada is better off supporting Newfoundland then allowing it to join the US.
Good thing you wern't the one making the decisions in the 40's or we would be paying tarrifs on all St.Lawerence shipping right now!
Oh my God, yes, thank you for the lesson in Newfoundland history. When I think of what makes a Newfoundlander a Newfoundlander its simple, we live on an island and therefore no one understands what it is to be a Newfoundlander, the mystery lies in the fact that in order to know what makes someone a Newf or not you have to live here and become one yourself. We are unique in the sence that what separates us from other provinces is that one can go from place to place, border to border, and never find the distinctive culture that exists in Newfoundland. I have been to a number of provinces and though they were beautiful places with friendly people it did not have the cozy, close-knitted feeling one gets from living in a small-town area. Anyways, all I have to say is that I love my little island and no amount of slander or ignorance can ever change it, in fact the humor just adds to the place :-)
ReplyDeleteThe culture in Newfoundland is LOT like the Cape Breton culture......the difference is that Cape Bretoners really ARE friendly and Newfoundlanders like to whine and moan. They are also clannish and close-minded and have regular pity parties.
ReplyDeleteI get my "ocean fix" (which isn't often) by visiting Nova Scotia. At least there you will find a bit of civilization.
I've been to all the places in Atlantic Canada and NL happens to be my least favourite. But at least I can say I've checked it out.
Spoken by someone who has been to neither Newfoundland or Cape Breton obviously.
ReplyDeleteTake it from someone who has lived in both placed, its buttons and beach rocks.
When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills,
ReplyDeleteAnd summer spreads her hand,
When silvern voices tune thy rills,
We love thee smiling land,
We love thee, we love thee
We love thee smiling land.
When spreads thy cloak of shimm'ring white,
At winter's stern command,
Thro' shortened day and starlit night,
We love thee frozen land,
We love thee, we love thee,
We love thee frozen land.
When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore,
And wild waves lash thy strand,
Thro' sprindrift swirl and tempest roar,
We love thee windswept land,
We love thee, we love thee,
We love thee windswept land.
As loved our fathers, so we love,
Where once they stood we stand,
Their prayer we raise to heav'n above,
God guard thee, Newfoundland,
God guard thee, God guard thee,
God guard thee, Newfoundland.
The culture in Newfoundland is LOT like the Cape Breton culture......the difference is that Cape Bretoners really ARE friendly and Newfoundlanders like to whine and moan. They are also clannish and close-minded and have regular pity parties.
ReplyDeleteOnce again with the stereotypes… Any case, if you are not “whining and moaning” about Newfoundlanders right now, please let me know what it is you are doing? Its hilarious listening to someone complain about something when in the end they are doing the same their selves.
I get my "ocean fix" (which isn't often) by visiting Nova Scotia. At least there you will find a bit of civilization.
A bit of civilization? Are you also saying that most of Nova Scotia is not civilized either? I am assuming that your definition of civilization is having a McDonalds on every corner. I have been all over North America, and for the most part there is nothing that you can’t get in Newfoundland that you have in the mainland.
I've been to all the places in Atlantic Canada and NL happens to be my least favourite. But at least I can say I've checked it out.
I would be curious to know where you went in the Province and for how long, because for some reason I do not believe that you actually went there. If you have visited, I am sad to hear that you did not have a great time, but we are better off without your ignorance polluting the air anyhow.
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ReplyDeleteTO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
ReplyDeleteI read these anti Newfoundland, bigoted, hateful comments and I am ashamed of my fellow Canadians who would write such garbage. Well, all I can say is there are lots of little Hitlers alive and not so well, I see. I am so shocked and appalled.
One piece of advice. If you are carrying around such hate, remember that it is going to kill you, not the kind, generous people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Hate like you possess causes all kinds of health problems. How unfortunate!! Perhaps you had better get to some anger management treatment as soon as possible.
You know, if you visited any part of Newfoundland and Labrador, people there would kill you with kindness. But you are so consumed with hate and begotry that it will eventually be the end of you. And what an appropriate end. Talk about poetic justice!!
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ReplyDeleteBy Jasen Sylvester Benwah
ReplyDeleteje'sn penwa
Thunder Cloud
St. George's Bay. I see that the Francophone population is adding insult to injury by rubbing this year's 400th anniversary celebrations into the faces of the aboriginal people. Have the Francophone population decided that we (the Mi'kmaq) are all extinct? It was not worth mentioning, apparently. If so, they are definitely in denial. I believe they have an obligation to not alienate the original peoples of these great lands. What of the historic alliance between the French and Mi'kmaq? I find the contents of the website (http://www.acadie400.ca/en) hurtful and completely lacking any sensitivity to the aboriginal people as they talk of celebrating their 400 years of settlement- which actually was occupation and participating in outright genocide. Was there any call for input from the aboriginal community before these celebrations were planned? I think not.
The French, like other Europeans illegally occupied our lands and still occupy it, were and are participating in the destruction of a people, culture, and as I peer through the acadie400 website I see that the injustice continues. They should all be ashamed of themselves and their ancestors - who have not yet made amends and who still poison our lands with your attitude and vanity. Your illegal colonial governments still try to dictate to us, who we are and what rights we have. It is a travesty. It makes me mad to see this attitude flourish in the face of common decency. What ever happened to the feeling of guilt that the colonial governments have been feeling? Not many months ago, the Queen of England apologized to the Acadian people for the expulsions. When will we see justice and when will we see the occupiers make amends? The Queen of England, has still not apologized and made amends, on behalf of her government, for the willful occupation of native lands, genocide, and all the others sins the British Empire are guilty of that would fill a hundred pages or more.
The Christian Church has yet to apologized for the deliberate destruction of native culture and for contaminating native society with European principals and philosophies. Their list of crimes is also too long to mention. Forcing native peoples to adhere to alien traditions and way of life. We may be Christians today, but it came at a great cost to our culture and way of life? We will always live in an unjust world, were outright evil is rewarded and continues to breed and flourish. Most times it is mislabeled as good. It is a sad fact of life. However, it is not too late to do the right time. To offer "an olive branch" and to be more respectful of the people who have to endure this tragedy. It is time for colonial governments to take responsibility.
Yet, our native people still have to fight for their basic rights and recognition. I do not and would not deliberately promote hatred and it is not my intention here. I have no malice against the current European descendants. I do consider many of them my friends and I do not blame them individually for the crimes of their ancestors. Having said this, I still feel the need to bring continual awareness to the injustice that continues. Here on the island of Newfoundland, the colonial government joined confederation in 1949 deliberately chose not make Canada live up to it's federal obligations. They did not register the Mi'kmaq under the Indian Act, which would have given them access to Federal programs. Our people were not even consulted. They broke a promise they made to recognize them, choosing instead to ignore them and schemed to assimilate them into the mainstream European way of life. Only in this province has this happened in Canada. It is an outright crime! This is an injustice that must be corrected. This is deliberate discrimination of a people and it is shameful. Canada boasts equality, justice, a good human right record and of being "fair-minded". Not so I tell you, they are guilty of crimes against the Mi'kmaq people of Newfoundland and the world should take notice and speak up against the Canadian government who have it in their power to make things right. We are tired of being second-class citizens and being ignored.
If you are not native you are living on stolen land,
ReplyDeletethe occupation was not and still is not legal,
even though most of you will say it is.
The aboriginals say the land is being illegally occupied.
They accuse those occupying it of destroying, both land,
water and wildlife.
So what exactly does this make the people still occupying it?
Quit pretending to care about the aboriginals while you
so conveniently occupy their land, over fish their waters
and use them as an escuse to kill seal for mostly pelt.
This has never been their way. The whole time you say you care
you ignore even their basic needs. (anyone allowing this is as
guilty as those doing it)
This has never been their way. It is culture robbery by degradation,
making their culture something it IS NOT and has never been!
So what about your, "we all live in harmony" debate now?.
The few left live in harmony because they are afraid!
All of this out of their own mouths, but I guess judging by
the comments you Newfoundlanders have not been listening, well enough.
Hitler? Kill with kindness? The scary thing is, I believe
you meant kill and would then call it kindness.
And to the last comment about seal, the number includes both harp and hooded.
The aboriginals are worried about the future of their population,
do you think global warming is going away?
Do you think the species will be as safe from 2006 as it was since 1970?
The factors are not even the same, the climate is different everything is.
You can not take statistics from 1970 till now and use it for the future calculation
of the species, any species. As much as you would like to believe the world
is the same today as it always has been, it just is not.
The relevance is all species are at greater risk. Even though the seal is
supposedly plentiful all other large predators have been removed from the area.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/05/02/endangered.list.reut/index.html
Until you see the importance of the ecosystem, you will never understand.
Until you see that today is different than the past and no one can continue the
same paths or species elimination is inevitable, and the effects on our human lives
can not begin to be measured. Anyone wanting a future for their offspring needs
to contribute.
A Newfoundlander to me is a fisherman who gets to sit home most of the year and live off the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteAs I said before, and may I repeat, the anti-Newfoundland sentiment here is abhorent to me and I am so ashamed of those Canadians who would write such bigoted, hateful things.
ReplyDeleteAs for the bigot who said that Newfoundlanders fish only part of the year (I would not repeat his ugly words verbatim). Well, I guess you are unaware that fishing is a seasonal experience on the Atlantic coast. It is quite difficult to get the boat out into the water when the ice is covering the bay in winter. Of course, you would not know that, would you?
My nephews fish and are away from their homes for weeks at a time. It is a dangerous business, which requires skill, hard work and courage to survive. You bigoted people would not survive one day out on the Atlantic ocean fishing. You don't have the courage, you don't have the character and you don't have the work ethic. You all spend your times in offices growing fat and more ignorant by the day, it would seem from your writings here.
As I stated before, the hate in your hearts from the good people of Newfoundland and Labrador is beyond belief. But that hate settles in your own heart and will eventually destroy its host. How can you look at yourselves in the mirror in the morning when you know what you are saying is total garbage.
A Newfoundland fisherman has more class, more courage and more character in his little finger than all of the bigots writing their hateful, ignorant, obscene comments.
As for the bigot who said that Newfoundlanders fish only part of the year (I would not repeat his ugly words verbatim). Well, I guess you are unaware that fishing is a seasonal experience on the Atlantic coast. It is quite difficult to get the boat out into the water when the ice is covering the bay in winter. Of course, you would not know that, would you?
ReplyDeleteUh....excuse me....how would I know??? I know because I AM a Newfoundlander you over-sensitive moron. It kills me that those of us who worked hard to educate ourselves and get good jobs have to be paying for the rest of this lazy ass province. The fishery is dead. Move on.
No, sir, you are not a Newfoundlander. You might have been born there but you are definitely not a Newfoundlander.
ReplyDeleteI feel so sorry for you. How sad it is for a fellow Newfoundlander to lose his way and harbour such hate in his heart. You need anger management very seriously. Do you not listen to yourself. Why do you hate the place you were born? Did you not get enough love from your mother? Were the teachers mean to you? Do you have a difficult boss? Do your children hate you? These are issues which you need to deal with with a nice therapist.
While you are in therapy, we true Newfoundlanders will continue to "stand on guard" for our beloved province.
While you are in therapy, we true Newfoundlanders will continue to "stand on guard" for our beloved province.
ReplyDeleteAre you an aboriginal?
If not they are disputing the land there.
Occupied land without permission, one of the
areas disputed in the land claims at an international hearing.
Saying they have been forced closer
to the coastlines and away from necessaties.
Badly mistreated and abused.
They are asking for help from
the international community saying they are in great danger,
because of Canadas genocidal tendancies. Being used to prove
their fear as relevant is the treatment of diplomats and visitors
during the east coast hunt and the protection they received while there,
showing that even though they are Canadian are treated with the same
hostile prejudice all over Canada. Other proofs they took with them
also include many boxes, but one is the latest treatment on April 20.
Who knows? Sure interesting to anticipate.
The hearings are going on this very week though.
That's my comment.
Canada was already rapped on the knuckles for these abuses in 1998 BTW anon, this will be the first time this court has heard anything from that time until now, they say these abuses by their Government and by other Canadians, that so ludly claim to care about their very welfare is a far worse situation today than it was in 1998. Funny, I always thought Canada was "better than the rest". Now I see that it is just what they wanted to send to the world, lying the whole time not only to us but to their own. Congrats Canada you have managed to look completely barbaric in treatment of animals and now your own people. I think we all get it now. No wonder tourism is failing you. What goes around always comes around, what is hidden will be revealed. So to all arguing, just sit back and watch, it will all play itself out. Canada is in the lights for the first time daily, let us see how she fairs. She has had it too easy the last 40 years, sitting out of view.
ReplyDeleteahem.....
ReplyDeleteso now we need a ticket to get to the current time?. If that's the way your going to be then I'll just leave.
----
Now speaking to my 6 foot invisible friend Harvey, It's time we got home and I suggest the flamers do as well. Based on what I read here Harvey, the nice people here may either shoot you or shoot me. And personally I don't think that's a very nice thing to do or for that matter be.
(looking up at the rabbit in a pointedly attentive way)
"Yes Harvey, I think we'll come back.. but probably not until the flames have died down and it's again quiet and peaceful."
What's that Harvey?
Yes, I know that they can't see you.. but they can't see me either
--- with apologies to Jimmy Stewart----
To the american,
ReplyDeleteI am Canadian I live here you are not. So you can not have a clue.
We are borderline communist here, our news is kept quiet, Canada
is great on our news where America is the devil, and not many people
feel much different. Talk about the biggest of bigots.
Start researching the true Canada a bit, anti Americanism,
anti Aboriginal, anti Animal...we are not the country we portray
to the world, trust me. We let our people die while we ignore the
water conditions of the aboriginals while giving these non abiriginals
our tax money. They are not Aboriginals! The just live on their land,
and claim it is their hunt and it is their right. If you looked deep
you would see not only do we severely abuse human rights, but also animals rights.
When is the last time you had severe TB outbreaks ignored? Or water poisonings to
the point childrens skin was burned? Ignored for years while people die, still going on.
Tons of children not innoculated, people dying of cancer waiting on spaces for treatment.
The ticket to present time is realising the fishery is dead move on, the truth about
Canada is when an animal becomes worth money for fur it is in grave danger.
Newfoundlanders their are help wanted signs all over your province, they are running ads in mine,
go get a job, and not just to collect a STAMP, and quit saying you do not have choices.
Clare!
Clare,
ReplyDeleteYou are right and the polls that say Canada leads in human rights,
make one who has lived in four different countries laugh,
they will change, their is a new UN panel hearing.
The aboriginals, others, Inuit, etc. have never went to
tell the truths, and as you stated our news has been censored,
and even more so now, with Stephen Harpers new muzzle.
The truth has never been allowed to leave Canada before, the
ones who can afford travel ignore it because the abuses never
touch them. This year will be a true turning point.
Not only in the way that the world views Canada, hopefully also, how we view ourselves.
Newfoundlanders can never tell a good joke, but are the center of many?
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ReplyDeleteThis is just the right spot for Newfoundland haters to come out from under the rocks they are buried under and spout all their vitriol. They use the seal hunt as a smokescreen to spread their hate and bigotry. If these so called animal lovers really believe in their cause, they would be concentrating on that. They would not be using it as an excuse to attack the good and hardworking people of Newfoundland. As I said before, your hate will detroy you. And the average Newfoundlander could care less about what you think. They are too busy raising families, paying for their children's schooling, attending church and having a good time with their family and friends. The hate mongers should try that lifestyle for a change. It might be enlightening to you that the whole world does not revolve around seals or any animal for that matter. Go get a life!
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ReplyDeleteI am speechless. Once more, I say to you, why do you spread hate and begotry about Newfoundlanders. What does that have to do with seals? As far as that crack about fifth grade, please forgive me as I laugh and laugh. I probably have more education than you do. As a matter of fact, for certain, my IQ is higher. Maybe that is the problem with all your seal fanatics. The more fanatical you are the lower the IQ. Now that makes sense. If feel better already.
ReplyDeleteAt one point you ask me what does that have to do with seals. Then you proceed with more about seals. Then you say I am spreading hate and claim your IQ is higher and call me a bigot. The fact is this topic was not about seals, but Newfoundlanders, that also happen to be sealers, so if we chat about Newfoundlanders it does not just have to be seals. I never said I hated Newfoundlanders or even disliked all Newfoundlanders, find one place. If it is true then it is true, that is not hate or bigotry FYI.
ReplyDeleteTo BNB:
In America they Have an Internal Revenue Service that audits all non profit organizations every three years without fail, the four on your list were indeed audited and are fine. Check your own DFO I would suggest.
Oh, and a higher IQ only means you are capable of learning more, intelligence quotient, not that you actually do or ever will. We do not know that as a fact, now do we?
ReplyDeleteLast I checked a large average of Newfoundlanders quit school after the fifth grade
ReplyDeleteI have been extremely busy for awhile and have not got a chance to respond to any of this, but as I quickly scanned down through the nonsense, I couldn’t help but notice this statement.
Where did you come with that figure? If you are going to make up random facts at least make them interesting. How about, saying that Newfoundlanders eat their young alive? I would make about as much sense as what you said.
Do everyone a favor and think before you speak (or in this case write).
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ReplyDeleteHere's a good one, comparing racist remarks against the group that they are meant to offend
ReplyDeleteseashepherd.blogspot.com
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ReplyDeleteHistory repeats itself again and again and again…
ReplyDeleteThe debate here – LIKE EVERY OTHER DEBATE ON THIS BLOG – has been sidetracked to the world of seals. Although I respect the opinion of people on both sides of this issue, please give it a rest!
An interesting observation from a lot of the comments here is the constant reference to Canada as a country and bashing it. The subject of the Blog related to the backlash Newfoundlanders receive, mainly from those within Canada I would assume.
It is so amusing to see people bashing Canada as an attempt to somehow affect Newfoundlanders. As always you are missing the point! I, like the majority of Newfoundland, consider ourselves Newfoundlanders first and Canadians second. Common sense would tell me that these Anonymous comments are coming from ignorant Americans and Europeans. Do everyone a favor, educate yourself a little on the geography and political makeup of the country and people you hate so much and then come back.
Newfoundlanders can never tell a good joke, but are the center of many?
ReplyDeleteI love jokes, wether I am telling them or the center or one (if you can't laugh at yourself who can you laugh at?)
Here's a good one though... What is black and blue and floats in St. John's Harbour? A mainlander who told one too many Newfie jokes.
Firstly, I apologize for being away so long. I had turned off the comment moderation because I didn't want to slow down the dialogue while I was out of the office (so to speak). I have now turned it back on and as a result all comments not related to a specific thread will not be posted in future.
ReplyDeleteIn the mean time I am in the process of deleting any comments on this thread that do not belong here.
Once again, to the reasonable readers and contributors, my apologies. To the others, you know who you are, either use the right thread for your comments or they simply will never be seen.
Myles
I am from Canada Mr. Chills and I bash it everyday.
ReplyDeleteIf you look closer at it you would also.
The only thing I have ever seen from a Newfoundlander
personally that I do not agree with is the seal hunt,
it is not all Newfoundlanders, and I wish it would end.
On the other hand they have been the only Canadians worthy
of respect for their close attention to Agoriginal human rights.
My neighbor is Labradorian and frankly she is the only one in
my area worthy of my friendship, and her sister and mom....etc.
Which is the most important? Well.....................
......................................................
Exactly!!!!!!!
Maybe we could all take a lesson on how to
become more HUMANE to our own people from them?
It is not like the rest of Canadians can say they have a great record
where animal rights are concerned either, oh yeah, we only mistreat our
own pets.
HEY, I like Newfie jokes...:) however, no one tells them better than
a NEWFIE!!!!
I am from Canada Mr. Chills and I bash it everyday. If you look closer at it you would also.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, someone is missing the point… I could care less about the country of Canada; I would rather separate and have little to nothing to do with the place; however for the time being we need them.
I simply stated that there were people leaving comments that were “bashing Canadians” in an attempt to belittle the people of Newfoundland when a large portion of Newfoundlanders have even worse things to say about Canada.
This is the most moronic blog entry I have ever read, only surpassed by the comments people have posted (including the 5min it takes me to post this one)
ReplyDeleteWho cares!
Why should Newfoundlanders care what people think of them. The fact that they do is embarrasing!
People who live in Toronto are reviled and mocked by Canadians country wide. People in FL hate people in NY. People in NY hate people in FL. The ARA's are mocked by people worldwide yet I have yet to see a blog entry in which a Torontonian boo hoos over their public perception...perhaps thats what we hate about them, their unapologetic Torontonian-ness.
Its about time that people in eastern Canada get over the "no body loves/respects us" story line. No one does. Just as no one writes love poetry about Calgary don't expect roses about St. John's.
See! A moronic waste of 5min because you are just going to say "But it hurts my feeling!"
Old Canadian proverb: "If you have to tell someone how great you are you arn't."
Let your province stand on its own merits!
I don't think this is a waste of time at all. Rather, I think it shows Canada for what it is. Very useful, I must say.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been easier to say, "Why can't we ALL just get along or shut up?" ;)
ReplyDeleteUnderstood Mr. Chills...:) I suppose you are right.
OH, I was watching boxing last night, (hated the main event) and Newfoundland you sure are beautiful up there, what a great commercial.
-Melinda