Newfoundland and Labrador is truly special

In 2007 my partner and I travelled to Newfoundland. From being a kid in grade school I had always wanted to go there to see the castle on the hill. That castle, of course, was the tower on Signal Hill.

I got my wish and as I type I look across the room at a picture of me and my partner on a bench with that tower in the background.

We stayed at the Extended Stay Hotel near your hospital in St. John’s. Very comfortable and friendly so we felt at home for a week. We visited The Rooms and ran in to Margret Trudeau who was going to do a presentation that day. We had great food and met many nice folks. We were made honourable Newfoundlanders by completing a fun pub game with us ending up kissing a toy cod fish and this honour gives me sense of pride.

We drove the Avalon Peninsula and saw beautiful small communities and talked about what character they had. We saw lighthouses and fishing towns. We even got the honour of seeing a few real icebergs.

I met Peggy, a lady who had lived in B.C. but, had moved back to Newfoundland, and she set up an antique shop. She asked me if I would take back two small West Coast Indian art pieces of no value.

She just felt I should have them to take them home. A kind and memorable act of kindness on Peggy’s part. They are on my shelf of treasures and I will never forget Peggy.

We went to Dicks Fish and Chips, which to this day, we tell people, “you have never ever had excellent fish and chips until you taste battered cod and fries from this restaurant on Bell Island.”

Bell Island itself should be promoted.

It is beautiful and I felt such pride and amazement that I was sitting on top of the largest iron ore mine in Canada, also a wartime shipwreck off its coast. I was 49 when I went there and these facts had never been taught to me in school curriculums.

All this history and tourism needs to be shared but, when I saw a story on the CBC where your government is seeking to move and relocate small communities, due to the cost of services to those communities, I realized your government may have forgotten where your heritage comes from.

It comes from your inner heart and mind. It comes from your traditions and a way of life. Newfoundland is truly unique. I have been to all 10 provinces and Ottawa to find out what our nationhood is about. My discovery, is that each province is unique. But I can tell you though, that Newfoundland is truly special.

I think this decision to depopulate your coastal and rural areas, by your government, is one that is blind sighted and one where a current generation does not see what value the past has due to faces in phones. They need to look up to see what amazing stuff there is in Newfoundland! They need to look up to realize the treasure your sitting on.

There are many younger Newfoundlanders who left for work, but many say their true intentions are to return. Like Denise, who I work with, and who is one true Newfoundlander, is doing just that with plans to move home in the future.

Your province will have population growth again. But by changing your best “tourism advantage” and relocating Newfoundlanders, you’re destroying the years of success you have got from your current tourism ad campaign.

A truly beautiful ad campaign that actually makes, people stop talking to watch them. Incredible because the ads show children running in fields, and folks living, small communities enjoying life in free spirited moments. Beautiful vistas of land and sea. They show your heritage and a way of life and that is what makes your province so special. They show your culture and hospitality.

Start pushing for cheaper costs to get to the Rock. I know I will be back but the cost is, as all, Newfoundlanders know, like paying ransom to the airline companies.

As a Canadian it costs more to fly from Vancouver to St. John’s than Vancouver to Japan or London. Your government and MPS should be doing something to change this to help draw in more tourism and for more frequent trips in and out for locals.

Open small offices in choice locations in other provinces to sell your tourism and products. lobster! Yum!

I truly loved Newfoundland and when I have the opportunity I share my experience. I show them pictures of journey. Please don’t destroy what makes Newfoundland Newfoundland.

I, at times, try to talk my partner into retiring to St. John’s but he is a New Brunswicker with Royal Loyalist roots so our future home is likely Moncton, but St. John’s is a definite destination.

Steve Toomey North Vancouver, B.C.