Newfoundland History

New Province

 

[For the source of this document, see the end of the article.]

The people of Newfoundland have voted to join Canada. The people of Canada, the parliament of Canada, and the government of Canada should not only accept that vote but welcome it with all sincerity.

In some quarters there is a suggestion that, as the margin for federation with Canada was slim, Canada should back out on the offer of marriage.

Such an attitude would not only be bad manners but worse democracy.

If a miss is as good as a mile in warfare, so the principle works the other way around.

A win by one percent of the vote ia as effective for democratic decision as is victory by twenty, thirty, or even forty percent over the necessary half.

If the Liberals had hesitated or refused to take office in Canada because Mr. King had won no larger a margin of the total vote than has been cast by Newfoundlanders for union, then we would never have had a Liberal government for more than one-third the time Mr. King has actually been in power.

Source: Elmore PHILPOTT, "New Province", in Vancouver Sun, July 30, 1948, p. 4. Article transcribed by Claude Bélanger.

 

Return to Canadian Views of Newfoundland's Entrance into Confederation