Love, votes, and Confederation
Why a woman chose to vote with her heart, not her head
Jane Dooley didn’t vote in favour of Newfoundland and Labrador joining Canada, but she certainly has no issue with how things turned out.
Dooley is now 101, and was in her mid-20s and living in Sweet Bay, in Bonavista Bay, when the Confederation vote was left in the hands of the people in July 1948.
She actually wanted to join Canada, but her husband was against the idea.
So, she decided to vote the same way he did, even though it was a secret ballot and he would never have been the wiser had she followed her political heart and not the love of her life.
“I didn’t want to fall out with my husband,” said
Dooley, now a resident at the Clarenville Retirement Centre in Clarenville.
“He couldn’t see how I voted, but I would have had to tell the truth.”
REMAINED OPPOSED
Her husband never did change his mind, but Dooley said he eventually got used to the fact Newfoundland and Labrador became a Canadian province in March 1949 and was no longer an independent nation.
“He got accustomed to it and knew it was best for us. … He just didn’t want change,” she said.
“He still wanted to be a Newfoundlander and not a Canadian.”
Just because she voted the same way as her husband does not mean there were no debates about Confederation in her family.
Dooley recalled many of those, with her and her brother-in-law, who supported Confederation, having many discussions with her husband about the pros and cons.
NO REGRETS
Florence Blundon, also now a resident of the Clarenville Retirement Centre, was living in Hatchet Cove in Trinity Bay when the vote to join Canada happened.
She voted in favour and has no regrets for doing so.
“The best thing to happen to Newfoundland was to join Confederation,” said Blundon, 94.
“I was happy with my vote and where we are today.”
She, too, recalled there being many heated arguments among folks on both sides of the debate.
‘FRIENDS BREAKING UP OVER IT’
Francis Young, 94, lived in Bridgeport in Notre Dame Bay before he voted to become a Canadian.
Like his fellow Clarenville Retirement Centre residents, he also witnessed many disputes over the merits of joining another country.
“I saw a lot of friends breaking up over it,” Young said. “A lot of people were afraid of the change, but change can be good.”
There were lots of promises of prosperity and some, though not all, of it did transpire, he said.
“I think it was a good move to join and I can see a big difference today,” Young said. “I’m happy I voted and it wasn’t wasted.”
LIVING ON PROMISES
Dooley said her family was far from wealthy in the late 1940s and she had just had her fourth child when the vote took place. The prospect of social welfare programs, including a federal family allowance benefit, helped sway her mind.
“It was a bit of extra money for me, so I was all for it,” she said. “We were better off for it.”
Blundon said it was indeed the social security programs offered by joining Canada that settled the debate for many.
“We wanted it because of the promises from the government,” she said. “We were living on promises for a long time, but we got a lot of them. Our health plan now is wonderful.”
STILL BETTER OFF
Dooley, recalling her experience of living through the tough economic times known as the Dirty ‘30s, agreed that things like better health services and a federal pension convinced many that becoming Canadian would vastly improve their lives economically.
She said she knows many people these days are hurting from inflation, but folks are still better off today than they were in the days before Confederation.
The fact senior citizens like herself can live in retirement homes like the one in Clarenville is among the perks she can enjoy today, she said.
“There were no places like this for old people here back then,” said Dooley. “Old people had to stay in their own homes (or with their children) until they died.”