What if N.L. hadn’t joined Canada?
Historians look at the push and pull coaxing Newfoundlanders towards Confederation
When Newfoundland and Labrador voted to join Canada, it wasn’t the only option being bandied about by politicians and the public.
Other factions were interested in a return to responsible government, and either going it on our own or creating closer economic ties with the United States.
The first referendum, held on June 3, 1948, offered the choices of Confederation with Canada, commission of government or return to responsible government.
By then, the Economic Union Party –– who had been advocating for creating closer economic ties with the United States –– had merged into the Responsible Government League, who were advocating for, obviously, a return to responsible government.
Responsible government eked out the highest percentage of votes in that referendum with 44 per cent, but since none had gotten above 50 per cent, another referendum with only Confederation or responsible government on the ballot was held on July 22, 1948, in which Confederation barely pulled out a win.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?
Jeff Webb, a professor in the history department at Memorial University, said it’s impossible to say what the other options might have meant for Newfoundland and Labrador since it didn’t happen.
He believes the argument in favour of a return to responsible government was mostly based on emotion and nationalism, however.
Webb said the argument on that side was that Newfoundland wanted to remain independent and there was no great love of Canada at that time on the island.
Rather, Canada was viewed more as a competitor than an ally, and the argument in favour of Confederation was that the federal government would provide financial support and there would be a lot of material benefits to people –– including no more customs duties and people would be able to buy goods that were manufactured in Canada at a cheaper price.
SENTIMENT
“On one side, it comes down to kind of sentiment... we rejected Canada once before, and we want to continue to maintain our link to the British Empire," Webb explains.
"The other argument being there's a lot of financial benefits not only to the government, but a lot of financial benefits to ordinary Newfoundland families to join Canada. The pro-confederation people at the time said small countries that are isolated on their own won't be able to survive in the world and that if you want to thrive, you have to be part of a bigger union.”
SMALL POPULATION
In 1949, Newfoundland only had about 300,000 people, Webb points out, which is only the size of a small city.
Many people at the time thought that Canada was a big country and it would help take care of people in bad times, and Newfoundland would do the same for Canada. Rejecting Confederation, however, would leave Newfoundland out in the North Atlantic on its own.
The Great Depression was a recent memory for Newfoundlanders, Webb added, and they had no desire to go back to that.
The economy did extremely well during the Second World War, Webb pointed out, with a lot of Canadian and American and British military spending on bases that raised people's income, gave them jobs, and government revenue. Newfoundland's government of the day was even running a surplus.
“During the war, the economy was doing better than it had done in 50 years, but everybody in 1946-47 were fearful that, well now that the war is over, economic conditions are going to change and we could be back in a bad situation again, and then have to go begging for somebody to help us,” he said.
“Newfoundland had $10 million in the bank. We wanted to get our government back and then to go to Canada and see what terms they offered to negotiate for Confederation on an equal basis.”
Greg Malone
“So, Confederation was more of an option for personal financial security and the pro-responsible government argument was much more of a nationalist appeal.”
The slogan for the Responsible Government League –– the group that advocated a mature and responsible government –– was, ‘Don’t sell your country.’
“So you can see that they were arguing that we are a country, we should remain a country, we should remain on our own,” Webb said.
“Joe Smallwood and the pro-confederation people were saying, ‘you’ll still be Newfoundlanders, the differences is that now we will have the backing of Canada, and our Canadian cousins will help us when times are bad and that in the long run, we will be better Newfoundlanders and happier Newfoundlanders as part of Canada than if we’re not.’”
WHAT’S THE RUSH?
Greg Malone, author of “Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland’s Confederation with Canada” agreed that it was impossible to say for sure what would have happened if Newfoundland and Labrador hadn’t joined Canada.
He does think a return to responsible government would have set up Newfoundlanders and Labradorians with a chance to broker a better deal with Canada, or possibly the United States.
Malone said there was a lot of talk about a rush to get Newfoundland and Labrador into Confederation and to be saved by Canada, but none of that was true.
“That was propaganda,” he said.
“We weren’t in any rush, the rush was on Canada’s side to keep us from joining America.”
U.S. OPTION
“The States had just been in with 40,000 troops in Newfoundland and had millions and millions of dollars invested in Newfoundland,” Malone points out.
“That’s why Canada was so concerned. They could see American influence in Newfoundland, and they thought, ‘well, if Newfoundland goes with the States, with Alaska on the other side of us, and the States reaching up into Labrador on the east coast, we’d be f**ked. That’s what Canada was worried about.”
Malone said Britain didn’t want Newfoundland and Labrador to join the Unites States either, or even have the option on the table. It would be more advantageous for Britain if N.L. joined Canada, he points out. Canada wanted the iron ore deposits that had been discovered around that time in Labrador, he said, which worked better for Britain than the United States having the resource.
‘NEWFOUNDLAND WASN’T IN A HURRY’
“They just wanted it done in a hurry, and Canada wanted that done in a hurry before anyone found out what was going on, but Newfoundland wasn’t in a hurry,” Malone said.
“Newfoundland had $10 million in the bank. We wanted to get our government back and then to go to Canada and see what terms they offered to negotiate for Confederation on an equal basis.
“It would have been an equal negotiation, and they wouldn’t have been able to style themselves as the saviour of Newfoundland and call us the poor cousin, which has happened for the last 50 goddamn years.”
BRITISH INFLUENCE
Malone said Britain knew if N.L. returned to responsible government, and could do the negotiations on its own, that the people might not have made the same choice and it might not have worked for them.
“They just wanted to be rid of us, and to get the benefits from us joining Canada,” he said.
“If we got our own government, we would have found out about the enormous benefit and the enormous bonanza of the iron ore deposit in western Labrador, which built North America basically. It would have been enough to finance us to become any kind of government we wanted, it could have financed our independence, paid off our debts, done it all.
“We would have been able to provide the social welfare packages, the baby bonus, the old age pension and all that stuff that Canada was offering. We would have been able to do that with that resource alone.”
He also points to the resources that have been developed since then.
“Then you have the Hydro, which was yet to be developed and wasn’t fully realized, (if) we weren’t in Canada, we wouldn’t have had to give it over to Quebec,” Malone adds.
“We would have been a rich country, not a poor country joining Canada for support, because they got all our resources.”
Malone said while it is impossible to know for certain what would have happened, the way joining Confederation with Canada played out wasn’t in the best interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador but was more in the best interests of Canada and Britain.