Feltham Rambles

he timing is a bit arbitrary, but at some point in the next year and a half, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will slip over from being a "have-not" province to a "have."

Just like that.

What a sea change this will represent. The lowest man on the totem pole shooting up past its Atlantic province siblings, past the historic rival (Quebec), past Manitoba to survey the sunny economic uplands of Canada, there to sniff the purer, rarefied air that has been so unquestionably the right for so long of Ontario and the affluent western provinces.

The prospect of "haveness" has been around for a few years. Just last February, for example, the annual satirical Leacock Debate held each year in Toronto featured the proposition, "Newfoundland will stick with Canada even if Ontario sinks." The motion was humorously attacked by the outgoing lieutenant governor of Newfoundland, Edward Roberts, and the former Liberal premier, Brian Tobin. The unlikely defence was mounted by professor Shane O'Dea of Memorial University, something of a Newfoundland nationalist, and the new lieutenant governor, the redoubtable John Crosbie.

"You poor buggers," said Crosbie to the blue-chip audience of lawyers, business folk and academics who had gathered at the University of Toronto. "You've got potholes in your streets and leaks in your bank buildings," he said, laying it on with a trowel. "It's pathetic when you see the reality: beggars on Bloor Street, company chairmen having to drive themselves to work. But here's good news. Newfoundland is going to stick with you, come hell or high water. Even if you all end up on the welfare rolls, we'll tide you over. We'll help you to keep your noses above the waterline."

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The truth is: When Newfoundland and Labrador entered Canada it boasted the world’s most prolific fishing resource off its shores. It was a fishery envied around the world. Upon entering Confederation this fishery fell under the control and management of Ottawa. By 1992 this fishery had been mismanaged into collapse and overnight more than 40,000 people lost their livelihoods. The impact to Newfoundland and Labrador’s small population was the equivalent to Ontario losing one million jobs in the blink of an eye.