Placed in this forum because it will probably become a debate.
These days Newfoundland and Labrador is very upset with Canada. To the point of removing the Canadian flag from provincial buildings and even talk of separation due to Ottawa’s proposed offshore oil revenue sharing plan. I don’t really understand what their problem is. Seems they want to become the new Alberta.
Isn’t the Canadian taxpayer is funding the development of the oil industry? Why does Newfoundland think they should get to keep all the revenue? Are they expecting all the revenue?
Alberta separtists, Quebec separatists, Nefoundland separatists. Jeez, one of these days Ontario is just going to say “Screw it, we’re better off without the rest of you.”
Growing up along the Canadian border, I never quite understood why Canada seemed less cohesive than the US, even though we had a little spat called “The Civil War” about 140 years ago. Sure, there’s Quebec and the language issue, but we also knew about Alberta, and the occasional rumblings in the Maritimes about breaking away from Canada and joining the US.
Even in the southern US, nobody would dare dream of taking the US flag down from government buildings and properties. I encounter far more display patriotism in the South than in the rest of the US, and Southerners supposedly (no cite) make up a disproportionate number of the military.
What makes this all strange is that when I crossed the border into Ontario, I saw far more display patriotism – flags, Canadian affirmations in the media, maple leafs in cormpany logos, and so on – than in the States. On the American airwaves, if a American celebrity died, a newscast would present a nice obituary. In Canada, if a Canadian celebrity died, it was treated as the passing of a Canadian – emphasis on Canadian – national institution. Americans were collectively saddened when Mister Rogers died, but there was no flag waving. When Ernie Coombs dies – Mister Dressup – the Canadina glurge factor went off the charts.
Couldn’t that be a socio-economic thing? At least at is why my mother and several of my relatives (from Louisiana) joined.
Back to the main point, I didn’t know of all the grumblings in the Great White North. I knew about Quebec, but Alberta and Newfoundland? What are their problems?
Elmwood correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the states have a lot more autonomy in your federation than the provinces do in ours. Maybe you guys would be more separatist if it wasn’t that way.
[Glib answer]. Basically, Alberta’s problem is they are rich. Because they are so rich, they want more political power than their population warrants. Newfoundland’s problem is they are poor and want Alberta’s problem.
Grandstanding always plays well when you’re dealing with a minority government that needs every single seat it can wrangle.
Back during the election Paul Martin promised a number of things to the people of Newfoundland & Labrador when it came to federal involvement in off shore oil. Normally federal equalization payments decline once the receiving province begins to approach the “have” category. What the various Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland/Labrador would like is to benefit from both natural resources (oil and gas fields) and avoid paying back to the government revenues that those resources provide for period long enough to sustain a higher regional development.
To be fair, however, the federal govenrment has never reneged on this agreement. What N&L is complaining about is that the feds want to cut the extra money off after Newfoundland is a have province and no longer needs equalization payments. Their position, basically, is that they want the equalization money in full as long as the program applies to them, and they want the money even after it doesn’t.
If that sounds silly, it is, on the face of it. But Newfoundland politics, historically, has been grounded on blaming Ottawa for everything, whether it make sense to or not.
You are relying on proving an increased glurge factor in Canada on a couple of websites entitled “canadaconnection.com” and “canadians.ca” - about the bio of some kiddie show host?
