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Newfoundland and Labrador (French, Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador)
is Canada's tenth province. Its capital is St. John's. "Newfoundland"
is generally pronounced "new-fun-LAND" by Canadians.
Geographically, the province consists of the island of Newfoundland
and the mainland Labrador, on Canada's Atlantic coast. Since
1964 the province has referred to itself at a provincial level
as "Newfoundland and Labrador", but federally the
name "Newfoundland" was used to assuage a dispute
with Quebec over a portion of Labrador. In October 2001, a
constitutional amendment was passed by the Senate, the House
of Commons and the House of Assembly changing the official
name to "Newfoundland and Labrador". This amendment
came into force on December 6, 2001.
The province's population is 533 800 (Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians).
Newfoundland has its own dialect of English known as Newfoundland
English.
Contents [showhide]
1 History
1.1 The Colony of Newfoundland
1.2 The Dominion of Newfoundland
1.3 The Province of Newfoundland (and Labrador)
2 See also
3 References
4 External links
[edit]
History
[edit]
The Colony of Newfoundland
Newfoundland has a number of historical firsts. The first
settlement anywhere in The Americas built by Europeans was
located at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. It was founded
circa 1000 A.D. by the Vikings. Remnants and artifacts of
the occupation can still be seen at L'Anse aux Meadows, now
a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island was later inhabited
by the Mi'kmaq and the Beothuks. Explorer John Cabot claimed
Newfoundland as England's first overseas colony after landing
at Bonavista in 1497.
From 1610 to 1728, Proprietary Governors were appointed to
establish colonies on the island. John Guy was governor of
the first colony, Cuper's Cove. Other colonies were Bristol's
Hope, Renews, South Falkland and Avalon which became a province
in 1623. The first governor given jurisdiction over all of
Newfoundland was Sir David Kirke in 1638. The island of Newfoundland
was nearly conquered by New France explorer Pierre Lemoyne
d'Iberville in the 1690s.
Newfoundland did not become part of Canada until 1949 when
it joined confederation under the premier Joseph Smallwood.
Until then it was a separate dominion of the British Empire.
Newfoundland received a colonial assembly in 1832 which was
and still is referred to as the House of Assembly. This was
after a long battle by such reformers as William Carson, Patrick
Morris and John Kent.The new government was rather unstable
and divided along sectarian lines. In 1842, the elected House
of Assembly was amalgamated with the appointed Legislative
Council. This was changed back in 1848 to two separate chambers.
It was after this that the movement for responsible government
got under way.
[edit]
The Dominion of Newfoundland
In 1854 Newfoundland was granted responsible government by
the British government. In 1855, Philip Francis Little, a
native of Prince Edward Island, won a majority over Sir Hugh
Hoyles and the Conservatives. Little formed the first administration
from 1855 to 1858. Newfoundland rejected confederation in
the 1869 general election. It remained as a colony until acquiring
dominion status in 1907 along with New Zealand. It attempted
to reach a trade agreement with the United States but failed.
The Dominion of Newfoundland reached its golden age under
the premiership of Sir Robert Bond of the Liberals.
(The riot at the Colonial Building in 1932)Newfoundland produced
its own regiment to fight in the First World War. On July
1, 1916, most of that regiment was wiped out at the beginning
of the Battle of the Somme. The war debt sustained because
of the regiment led to increased borrowing in the post-war
era. Political scandal was a severe problem in the 1920s.
In 1923 , Prime Minister Sir Richard Squires was arrested
on charges of corruption. He was released soon after on bail,
but the scandal was reviewed by the British-led Hollis Walker
commission. Soon after, the Squires government fell. Squires
returned to power in 1928 only to control a country that was
drastically hurt by the Great Depression.
On April 5, 1932, a mob of 10,000 people marched on the Colonial
building (Seat of the House of Assembly) and forced Squires
to flee. Soon after there was an election and Squires lost
again. The next government, led by Frederick C. Alderdice,
called upon the British government to take direct control
until Newfoundland could be self-sustaining.
In 1934 the Dominion gave up its self-governing status. In
all but name it was a colony again. Government by commission
(http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/3330/constitution/1934lp.htm)
continued until confederation in 1949.
Newfoundland Coat of Arms[edit]
The Province of Newfoundland (and Labrador)
In 1946 an election was held for a National Convention to
decide the future of Newfoundland. The Convention voted to
hold a referendum to decide between continuing the Commission
of Government or restoring responsible government but Britain,
insisting that it would not give Newfoundland any further
financial assistance added a third option of having Newfoundland
join Canada onto the ballot. After much debate, an initial
referendum was held on June 3, 1948 to decide between continuing
with the Commission of Government, reverting to dominion status
or joining Canadian Confederation. The result was inconclusive
with 44.6 % supporting the restoration of dominion status,
41.1% for confederation with Canada, and 14.3% for continuing
the Commision of Government. A second referendum on July 22,
1948 which asked Newfoundlanders to choose between confederation
and dominion status was decided by a vote of 52 to 48 percent
for confederation with Canada. Newfoundland joined Canada
on March 31, 1949.
In 1959, a local controversy arose when the provincial government
pressured the Moravian Church to abandon its mission station
at Hebron, Labrador, resulting in the relocation southward
of the area's Inuit population, which had lived there since
the mission was established in 1831. Politics would be dominated
by the Liberal Party under Joseph R. Smallwood until 1972.
In 1972 the Smallwood government was finally replaced by the
Tory administration of Frank Moores. In 1979 Brian Peckford
became Premier. During this time Newfoundland was involved
in a serious battle with the federal government for control
of offshore oil resources. In the end, the dispute was decided
by compromise. In 1989, Clyde Wells and the Liberal Party
came to power ending seventeen years of Conservative rule.
In 1992, the federal government declared a moratorium on
the Atlantic cod fishery, owing to severely declining catches
in the late 1980s. The consequences of this decision reverberated
throughout the provincial economy of Newfoundland in the 1990s,
particularly as once-vibrant rural communities faced a sudden
exodus. The economic impact of the closure of the Atlantic
cod fishery on Newfoundland has been compared to the effect
of closing every manufacturing plant in Ontario. The cod fishery
which had provided Newfoundlanders on the south and east coasts
with a livelihood for over 200 years was gone, although the
federal government helped fishermen and fish plant workers
make the adjustment with a multi-billion dollar program named
The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy (TAGS).
Meanwhile in the late 1980s the federal government, along
with its Crown corporation Petro Canada and other private
sector petroleum exploration companies, committed to developing
the oil and gas resources of the Hibernia oil field on the
northeast portion of the Grand Banks. Throughout the mid-1990s
thousands of Newfoundlanders were employed on offshore exploration
platforms, as well as in the construction of the Hibernia
Gravity Base Structure (GBS) and Hibernia topsides.
In 1996 the former federal minister of fisheries, Brian Tobin,
was successful in winning the leadership of the provincial
Liberal Party following the retirement of premier Clyde Wells.
Tobin rode the waves of economic good fortune (relatively
speaking) as the downtrodden provincial economy was undergoing
a fundamental shift, largely as a result of the oil and gas
industry's financial stimulus, although the effects of this
were mainly felt only in communities on the Avalon Peninsula.
Good fortune also fell on Tobin following the discovery of
some of the world's largest nickel deposits at Voisey's Bay.
Tobin committed to negotiating a better royalty deal for the
province with private sector mining interests than previous
governments had done with the Churchill Falls hydroelectric
development deal in the 1970s. Following Tobin's return to
federal politics in 2000, the provincial Liberal Party devolved
into internal battling for the leadership, leaving its new
leader, Roger Grimes, in a weakened position as premier.
The pressure of the oil and gas industry to explore offshore
in Atlantic Canada saw Newfoundland and Nova Scotia submit
to a federal arbitration to decide on a disputed offshore
boundary between the two provinces in the Laurentian Basin.
The 2003 settlement rewrote an existing boundary in Newfoundland's
favour, opening this area up to energy exploration.
In 2003, the federal government declared a moratorium on
the last remaining cod fishery in Atlantic Canada - in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. While Newfoundland was again the most
directly affected province by this decision, communities on
Quebec's North Shore and in other parts of Atlantic Canada
also faced difficulties.
Premier Grimes, facing a pending election that fall, used
the Gulf cod decision and perceived federal bias against the
province as a catalyst to try to rally citizens around his
administration. Grimes called for a review of the Act of Union
by which the province had become a part of Canada and on July
2, 2003, the findings of the Royal Commission on Renewing
and Strengthening Our Place in Canada (which Grimes had created
in 2002) were released. It noted the following stressors in
the relationship between the province and Canada:
The huge impact of the destruction of the cod stocks.
Hydroelectricity resources in Labrador have primarily benefitted
Quebec.
Chronically high unemployment.
Lowest per-capita income in Canada.
The highest tax rates.
The worst out-migration.
The report called for:
more collaborative federalism;
an action team to deal with the fishery;
collaboration between Canada, Quebec, and Newfoundland and
Labrador on the development of the Gull Island hydro site;
revision of the Atlantic Accord so that offshore oil and gas
reserves primarily benefit the province;
immediate and realistic negotiations on joint management of
the fishery.
In October 2003, the Liberals lost the provincial election
to the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Danny Williams.
[edit]
See also
Newfoundland
Labrador
Canada
List of cities in Canada
List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador
List of Canadian provincial and territorial symbols
List of Newfoundland and Labrador premiers (1855 - current)
Governors and lieutenant-governors of Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfie
[edit]
References
"This Marvelous Terrible Place: Images of Newfoundland
and Labrador" by Momatiuk et al.,Firefly Books; ISBN
1552092259; (September 1998)
"Newfoundland & Labrador" by Lawrence Jackson,
Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd; ISBN 1550412612; (August 1999)
"Atlas of Newfoundland and Labrador" by Department
of Geography Memorial University of Newfoundland, Breakwater
Books Ltd; ISBN 1550810006; (1991)
"Suspended State: Newfoundland Before Canada" by
Gene Long, Breakwater Books Ltd; ISBN 1550811444; (April 1,
1999)
"True Newfoundlanders: Early Homes and Families of Newfoundland
and Labrador" by Margaret McBurney et al., Boston Mills
Pr; ISBN 1550461990; (June 1997)
"Biogeography and Ecology of the Island of Newfoundland:
Monographiae Biologicae" by G. Robin South (Editor) Dr
W Junk Pub Co; ISBN 9061931010; (April 1983)
[edit]
External links
Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site (http://www.heritage.nf.ca)
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (http://www.gov.nf.ca)
Songs Of Newfoundland And Labrador (http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/)
"The Tenth Province: Newfoundland joins Canada, 1949",
by Melvin Baker (http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~melbaker/confederation1949.htm)
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