NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/can/politics/11599

Text File | 1993-01-22 | 6.4 KB | 142 lines

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Subject: Labrador Deal (was RE:SNAGG)
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Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:39:06 GMT

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>From: [e-mail] (JOHN LAROCQUE)
>Subject:Labrador deal (was RE:SNAGG)
>Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 14:09:45 GMT
>Message-ID:<[e-mail]>

[Introduction and most of Article Deleted]

>refer the matter to the International Court at the Hague. In that
>event it could be a whole new ball game, for Quebec has always
>believed it could reverse the 1927 decision.
>
>[ and I hope they do - John ]

Why? Newfoundland is not already poor enough?

>

>     "Why would the Canadian government do such a thing? Apparently
>Mackenzie King was extremely worrited over the political
>consequences should Newfoundland lose and Quebec thereby gain such
>a huge slice of land. The proglem was that o discovering a way to
>compensate Ontario with an equal amount of terrtitory. As this
>proved an insoluble puzzle, rumour had it that Anglophone ministers
>in the cabinet HAD THREATENED A PALACE REVOLT if the province of
>Quebec were to expand to that extent. Thus, the 1927 decision was
>an immense relief in that IT RESTRICTED QUEBEC AND FAVOURED THE
>STATUS QUO IN CANADA."

There's no proof of the "secret agent" planted within the Hudson's Bay
Company, although it sounds quite likely. By the way, John Greene was
leader of the provincial NDP back in the late 1970's.
I have no reason to doubt his sincerity, but he still doesn't have the
clinching proof on this theory. By the way, did you know that
Newfoundland tried to sell Labrador to Quebec for $50 million back in
the early 1930's in an attempt to meet its public debt (largely
incurred because Newfoundland was the only country foolish enough to
make good on its debts from World War I)? The Quebec premier
Taschereau decided that the price was too steep. Had Quebec made this
deal, it is likely that Newfoundland never would have had to abandon
self-government for a British-appointed commission, and Newfoundland
might never have joined Canada.

>
>[ end of quote ]
>
>     Your friend and mine, Clyde Kirby Wells, leader of less than
>3% of the Canadian population, "stood up to Quebec" and deserves
>credit for the torpedoing of the Meech Lake accord. Such anti-
>Quebec sentiment also came from the mouth of one of his cabinet
>ministers who proclamined "They might have us over a barrel on the
>Churchill Falls but we got them by the balls on Meech Lake".

Yeah, I remember that quote. It was Hubert Kitchen, former Finance
minister, but he actually said "...but we've got them by the short
hairs on Meech Lake". He embarrassed a lot of us in Newfoundland with
that remark. He was reprimanded by the cabinet for that - he
also said that the tax on books was fair because "the poor don't read
or buy many books anyway". Don't base your argument on the quotes of
one loose cannon on the deck.

>
>      Newfoundland, a province that only became "Canadian" less 45
>years ago, was telling Quebec, one of the founding provinces of
>Canada, what kind of country it would like imposed on it. Makes you
>miss Peckford. At least he was a regionalist who understood that
>Newfoundland should exercise powers at the provincial level, not
>Ottawa. And while he wasn't a separatist, his Canada would have
>been more decentralized then the one that Pierre Eliott Trudeau
>imposed on it.

Aha, now it all comes out. So we're not equals within Canada, are we?
How DARE we try to effect fairness for ourselves and others in Canada
- we're too small and poor to matter within Canada, is that what
you're really saying?

>
>      This region has had more than its say in Canada. For far too
>long they have had unlimited access to the wealth of Central Canada
>by way of federal provincial grants, and outside the (once)
>bountiful fisheries, there was UI for a good part of the year and
>whatever money was poured into the latest multi-billion dollar
>port-barrel project from Trudeau and Mulroney.

Yeah right. And what about all the good strong backs we've provided to
Ontario to work your factories and develop your province?
There are close to 1 million expatriate Newfoundlanders scattered
throughout Canada and the U.S. Do you think that they haven't had
regrets about having to leave? Does that sound like we're all a bunch
of leeches on Canada?
Your attitude shows an ignorance of Newfoundland held by many
that sickens and appalls me. There might be 22% unemployment here, but
those of us who are lucky enough to have jobs here pay income tax, GST
and all the other hidden taxes just like anywhere else in Canada - in
fact, we don't even have the luxury of cross-border shopping! And most
of those that are unemployed would, I'm sure, trade UI for a job. There
are just as many UI and welfare cheats anywhere else in Canada.
So get down off your high horse and stop bleating about how Newfoundland is a
drain on Canada - what natural resources we have here are developed
elsewhere in Canada - Labrador iron ore, hydroelectric power, pulp and
paper, etc., etc. I don't see you complaining about how all of that
keeps Iron Ore Company of Canada, DOSCO, Hydro Quebec, Abitibi Price and
countless other companies and their stockholders going.

Hibernia will be to
>Newfoundland what the Tar Sands were to Alberta. Oil so expensive
>to produce that it would be better to leave it in the ground. And
>despite all of this - the provice is still very much poor. Makes
>you wonder if Confederation was worth it for them.

Hope that YOU are wrong!

>
>
>     I wish them luck, but the realist in me tells me that this
>project, like all the rest, will fail and Newfoundland will remain
>poor and desolate. When Quebec goes (and it will, in time)
>Newfoundland and the rest of Atlantic Canada will be up the creek.
>Atlantic Canada's Bangladesh to Quebec's Pakistan and Ontario's
>India. Not very promising, but inevitable, as money runs out of the
>federal coffers and no one wants to pay any more.

You're a real optimist, aren't you?


Jamie Morry
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's Newfoundland

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and not those of the university.