Welcome to The Holey Land
Newfoundland is in a $12-billion hole. With the exception of a little buoyancy now and then, we’ve been in the hole forever, which in our case is about 70 years.
No doubt one reason, our reason for being, is that our fishery was turned over to Ottawa in 1949 to be managed by pencil-pushers who knew nothing about the fishery and cared less about what happened on a rock a thousand miles away.
So, what is the solution? For a start, separate from Canada.
Secondly, rename the new country. Sell the name Newfoundland to China for one of the new islands they’ve produced in the South China Sea. Since we’re not a newfound-land anymore after more than 500 years, and since we’ve been in the hole forever, let the new name be The Holey Land. The Pope might be disgruntled but when he gets his dictionary down and checks the spelling he’ll see that his papacy is in no danger.
One of the first considerations as a country would be to nationalize
The Pope might be disgruntled but when he gets his dictionary down and checks the spelling he’ll see that his papacy is in no danger.
any resource that is now being pillaged or for which we aren’t being fairly compensated.
We would also extend and seriously monitor our new economic zone to the maximum allowable in the interest of renewable sea harvesting and of conservation. Then we start promoting our great new country as a world-class tourism destination.
Here we have so many outstanding historical and natural attractions, including the UNESCO sites — Gros Morne, L’anse aux Meadows, Red Bay and Mistaken Point. As it is, it seems the federal government is attempting to dump Mistaken Point through their lack of support for its security and promotion. This is not just any pile of rock. Trilobites and humans are thought to be related, so it is possible, in a visit to the 500-million-year-old Mistake Point, that you might unknowingly view your (say great 20 million times) grandparents — based on a 25-year regeneration period. Where else can one see that, except maybe in Australia?
The Holey Land would become prosperous from the tourism industry alone if it decided to cultivate that industry. In how many provinces can one stand a chance of seeing from a distance of 50 feet, the biggest animal that ever lived — the blue whale; of using just your hands to catch some of the smallest, a meal of caplin, of hiking hundreds of miles of wilderness trails, of seeing a million-tonne iceberg up close; of seeing hardly anything for the fog.
Only in The Holey Land.
Derm Browne St. John’s