Confederation: Good Idea or Mistake?

On March 31st, 1949, Newfoundland's fate was sealed. A vote had been held, and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador had made their choice: to join confederation and become a part of Canada; many believing that it would solve the majority of their problems. Confederation, in this sense was joining the country of Canada. With the exception of federal programs, better schooling and better roads, Newfoundland is no better off as a part of Canada than it was 60 years ago.

How We Got Here

The march towards confederation started years before the final vote was held. In fact in December of 1945, the government in the United Kingdom announced that there would be a national convention- a group of people to help decide Newfoundland's future. This group of people would be chosen by the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, and would help them decide that future. By June of 1946 this group of representatives were chosen, and met the following September. It was not until 1947 that this group of people had decided that they would send a delegation to Ottawa to figure out from the Government of Canada what Newfoundland would stand to receive if they were to join the country of Canada. In May of 1947, this delegation traveled to London to find out the financial relations for each form of government on the ballot: continuation of Commission of Government, a revised form of Commission, and responsible government (http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/NFLDHistory/NewfoundlandJoinsCanada-Confederation.htm).

The first option- under the continuation of Commission of Government would keep the fiscal and financial relations just the way they were. The second option, a revised form of Commission, the amount of responsibility the United Kingdom would have for the financial stability of Newfoundland would be dependent on how revised the Commission would be. The third option, which was responsible government, would make Newfoundland fully responsible for its own finances. After a long debate, the United Kingdom agreed to add Confederation to the ballot so that Newfoundlanders would not be deprived of deciding if Confederation is what they wanted or not.

The first poll of the National Referendum was held on June 3, 1948. None of the governments had an absolute majority in this vote (see Appendix A), so a second vote had to be held. This vote was more decisive (see Appendix A), as 18 of the 25 districts were clearly in favour of the country of Newfoundland joining with the rest of Canada (http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/NFLDHistory/NewfoundlandJoinsCanada-Confederation.htm). Just eight days later, the Prime Minister announced that there was a clear result, and that result showed that Newfoundlanders wanted to be a part of Canada and therefore he accepted Newfoundland as the newest province in the country; official Canadian citizens.

Before The Choice Was Made

Before joining Confederation, Newfoundland was suffering, and the main source of employment for most of the residents was the fishery, and even this offered a poor living. The fact that there was a high birthrate was overshadowed by the fact that there was also a high mortality rate. Compared to the rest of Canada in 1934, Newfoundland's death rate was 12.1 per thousand of the population; the rest of Canada had a death rate of only 9.5 per thousand. Also there were not many hospital beds in Newfoundland; only 450, which averaged out to one bed for every 644 people when a survey was done by the St. John's Rotary Club (http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~melbaker/confederation1949.htm).

When the depression began, the total exports from Newfoundland fell in value from $40 million in 1930 to just $23 million a mere three years later. The value of fishery exports fell by almost $10 million from $16 million to $6.5 million (http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~melbaker/confederation1949.htm). Therefore the amount of people that were living off of the dole increased dramatically.

Once the commission took power, Newfoundland saw many improvements. Education was greatly affected as the commission established a summer school program at Memorial College. They also made textbooks and school supplies available on loan to the students and did their best to try improve the health of the students. The commission also had a great effect on medical services. By 1938, it operated 10 cottage hospitals with a total of 130 beds. When tuberculosis hit in 1938, a new wing was added to the Sanatorium, and a health unit that was mobile was formed so that people in other remote communities could be checked and treated for the disease if anybody in the community did have it(http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~melbaker/confederation1949.htm). But despite these improvements, the fishery was still suffering.

But when the Second World War began, Newfoundland was an important defense base in the Allied War effort, which helped the economy greatly. When World War II was over, it was clear that the economic crisis that had lead Newfoundland to the Commission of Government in the first place was now finally over, and that Newfoundland might be able to go it on it's own once again with any assistance. (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-2230-e.html). It was then that the British decided to form a group of people to see what the possibilities for Newfoundland's future were. Through many debates and discussions, a referendum was held to decide exactly what Newfoundland's future would be, and Joey Smallwood would play an important part in that future.

The Man Behind It All- Joseph R. Smallwood

One of the most prominent figures of this group of people was Joseph R. Smallwood. It is said that he had a vision for Newfoundland and what he hoped it could achieve by joining Confederation. But Joey made some mistakes as the first premier of the province. One of the biggest mistakes that he made was the Upper Churchill contract with Quebec. Just a few years after joining Canada, he was anxious to make things better for Newfoundlanders, and he talked a lot about the world class hydro electrical potential at Churchill Falls in Labrador. The only problem was that he would need the right to wheel the power across Quebec to get the power to market. Normally that would not have been a problem, but Quebec objected; they said that they would build the transmission line and purchase the power at the Newfoundland/Quebec border, and that they would sell it to the United States. If the Prime Minister had given in and given Newfoundland the right to wheel the power across Quebec, there would have been uproar there, and there was the possibility of Quebec breaking from the rest of Canada.

Therefore, the premier of the youngest province made the decision to not insist on getting the wheeling rights and the contract that he signed is the contract that Newfoundland is still under today (http:///www.fairdealfornewfoundland.com/gildalton/). Quebec's leverage was so great because of it that the term of the contract was extended to continue for 25 more years, and the price of the kilowatts per hour was made less expensive. This contracts now gives Quebec roughly $1 billion a year, with the great possibility of profit continuing to climb, and the amount of money the provinces loses growing greater as well.

The Positives of Confederation

Confederation has helped Newfoundland in many ways. Two such improvements Newfoundland saw were university and better highways. The first benefit of joining was moving into the world as a Canadian province, as Canada was coming into its own after the War. The second benefit that Newfoundland saw as a result of joining Confederation was that there would be economic help for Canada's youngest and newest province, and that they wouldn't have to go it alone if something were to go wrong; surely Canada would have their backs when times were hard, and would not let them down or let them suffer.
(http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080118130117AA5AT69).
The federal government promised that they would give financial assistance and access to Canadian markets, both as buyers and sellers.

How Things Might Have Been

It's hard to say how things could have been different if the vote had gone the other way; the economy might still be struggling, Newfoundland's resources might still become depleted, it's young people might still leave the province for better paying jobs. Even though Newfoundland joined confederation, and it has helped us in some ways, there are other ways that it has hurt the province. So is Newfoundland any better off as Confederation? There is no definitive answer for this question; for some will always maintain that it was a good idea, while others think that we never should have joined in the first place.

Bibliographical References

http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/NFLDHistory/NewfoundlandJoinsCanada-Confederation.htm
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~melbaker/confederation1949.htm
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-2230-e.html
http:///www.fairdealfornewfoundland.com/gildalton/
http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080118130117AA5AT69

Appendix A

Results of the first vote (June 3rd, 1948)

Responsible Government 69,400 votes

Confederation 64,066

Continuation of Commission of Government 22,311 votes
 

Results of the second vote (July 22nd, 1948)

Responsible Government 78,323 votes

Confederation 71, 334 votes