Anyone who has ever known me knows that I'm a staunch federalist. Well, at least that used to be the case. I'm feeling a little less yay Canada than usual these days. The current tension between Ottawa and the province of Newfoundland has made me investigate my feelings. I'm not sure my recent discoveries endear Canada to me. It's rare that I find myself allied with conservatives (One might say almost never... previous to this, I think the closest I have ever come was in agreeing that there are two spellings for the name Jeffery... but I digress...) especially in this day and age, but there you have it.
To fill you in, the whole episode between the warring factions erupted over oil royalties. After several unsuccessful bouts, The Premier of Newfoundland, Danny Williams, ordered the removal of Canadian flags from all public buildings in the province.
It was the last straw, the one that broke the proverbial camel's back. The feeling now is that Canada has done nothing but sabotage Newfoundland's chances for any serious economic recovery, and has been actively doing so for decades.
Adding fuel to the fire, The Globe and Mail, who has never been friendly to Newfoundland, shot a volley into the fray. I have included snippets of Margaret Wente's column. Her remarks are hateful, and have an uninformed taint to them.
Here's the first one:
“Over the years, those of us not blessed to be born on the Rock have sent countless cakes its way in the form of equalization payments, pogey, and various hare-brained make-work schemes. (Who can ever forget the hydroponic cucumber farm?) In return, the surly islanders have blamed us for everything from the disappearance of the cod stocks to the destruction of the family unit, because if people had to work more than 10 weeks before they could collect EI, they might have to move away.”
You rely on a sad stereotype here. It's that kind of upper Canada arrogance, and ignorance that Newfoundland has been stained by. We are not a province of colloquial; near do wells that scrounge up a few weeks work so we can milk the federal tit for the rest of the year. As long people like yourself report that kind of nonsense to the rest of the country, it will be true, regardless of the actual facts. You dismiss the fact that Newfoundland has lead the country in economic growth for the last several years.
As for the surliness of Newfoundlanders, how can you blame a province that has been shafted at every turn? There is an inherent mistrust with good cause. I submit the following as examples.
1) The refusal of the federal government to expropriate land in Quebec for the power lines for Churchill Falls. Clearly an act designed to placate Quebec. When Alberta needed land for the pipeline, the government tripped over themselves to get that land sorted. Newfoundland… Not so much. Had Newfoundland been trusted to it's own electrical resource, It would have been on a much better footing financially.
2) The refusal of the Federal Government to help with preventing the closure of the seal fishery. The government dropped this one like a hot potato. Greenpeace aside, the government, not wanting to be embarrassed internationally, decided to fly in the face of an already desperate people. Not really a government for the people. At least not the people of Newfoundland. Ironically, the government had to re open the seal fishery 20 years later, because the seal population was out of control, and was decimating the remaining cod stocks.
3) The complete and total mismanagement of the offshore cod fishery. In late 80's Dr. Leslie Harris, from Memorial University of Newfoundland delivered a white paper on the future of the Northern Cod stocks. The federal government largely ignored it. Instead, as a way of luring France, Russia, Spain and Portugal to the world court to answer charges of gross over fishing, they actually increased the legal limit they were allowed to catch. Just a couple of years later, the government closed the commercial fishery. 30,000 people lost their livelihood in an afternoon. The same per capita amount of people in Ontario would equal 600,000.
4) Instead of any real encouragement or concrete professional development schemes from Ottawa, Newfoundland was handed a new EI package and some hackneyed, and demeaning job creation programs. Newfoundlanders were told “Take what you can get, and don't bitch about it…”
Here's another one:
“I like Newfoundlanders. I really do. But their sense of victim hood is unmatched. And their flag protest isn't winning them much sympathy on this side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In fact, the sensation on this side is of a deep and painful bite to the hand that feeds. Mr. Williams reminds me of a deadbeat brother-in-law who's hit you up for money a few times too often. He's been sleeping on your couch for years, and now he's got the nerve to complain that it's too lumpy.”
First off, switch out Newfoundlanders for any other minority, say Homosexuals, and see how snide this really is… (Some of my best friends are homosexuals…)
Secondly, We are not trying to bite the hand that feeds. We just don't like being taunted by it. Until you have lived in Newfoundland, and endured the kind of economic hardship, you have no right to attack it. Having natural resources that we are not permitted to gain from is wrong, and shame on you for making us feel bad about it. How truly ignorant of you.
Mr. Williams might remind you of a dead beat brother in law, but these kinds of comments remind me of a soccer mom who has an opinion about everything, and none of the required knowledge to back it up. I can't help but feel that we were never a welcome guest to begin with. Inside the Canadian family, we have been relegated to the kids table, or treated like the weird uncle everyone patronizes, because he's mostly harmless.
Another quote:
“As for you other people of the Rock, maybe we can strike a deal. You can keep all the oil and gas revenues. And you can pay us back all the money we've sent you since you joined Confederation. Fair enough?
I thought not.”
Sure, and while you're at it, why not give the other 8 provinces a ring and see if they can cough up some dough too. I mean, it' s not as if they aren't all taking advantage of transfer payments too. How come no one ever tells people from Saskatchewan or British Columbia, to pack up and move? B.C.'s industries are a shambles; Nova Scotia isn't in the best shape either. Quebec is a financial disaster most of the time too.
A fact few Canadians understand is that Newfoundland and Canada had a Confederation of equals, not a bargain basement provincial union. Sadly the later has been the truth too often. Equality needs to swing like the regulator in a clock, making it to both sides frequently, and once in a while there's a meeting in the middle. but this clock is broken, or more to the point, has never worked.
And it's because of this; I think it may be time to leave.
I close with this.
Men, hurrah for our own native isle, Newfoundland!
Not a stranger shall hold an inch of her strand.
Her face turns to Britain, her back to the Gulf.
Come near at peril Canadian wolf.
- Anti Confederate Toast 1869
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