ewfoundland and in particular St. John’s was well known to many a Canadian serviceman who because of Newfoundland’s strategic position spent part of his/her wartime life in St. John’s.
The servicemen recalled a warm friendly people, who though not possessing a
great deal of the world’s wealth, nevertheless shared what Canada had gladly and freely.
Memories of St. John’s included the tiny street car meandering its way
through the cobbled road of Water Street, the haze of early morning smoke,
from the many potted chimneys sweeping low over the city. The old war department
stores filled with goods of every variety, and the clerks who served customers and
sent the money zinging off in a wire tube for change.
These pleasant memories however, were clouded with not so pleasant ones,
the high cost of living, the appalling slums, the lack of paint on the houses.
They remembered the scarcity and high price of milk, the prevalence of tuberculosis,
bad teeth and infant mortality.
Perhaps these servicemen and other visitors pondered and wondered why such a misfortune
would befall such a friendly and hardworking people.
To answer this question one must take a brief look at the political, economic, and social
circumstances that led up to this picture of Newfoundland as seen by the Dominion of Canada in the mid-forties.
Being the tenth largest island in the world Newfoundland had a population of under 300 000 people.
Approximately 50 000 lived in St. John’s, the capital city. The rest of the population lived mainly in
1300 little settlements along a rugged 6000-mile coastline.
With the exception of the residents of the papertowns of Corner Brook and Grand Falls,
the mining communities of Buchans and Bell Island, these people were farmers/fishermen as
their ancestors had been for hundreds of years. Fishing had dominated the economic,
political, and social life of Newfoundland for 400 years. The truck system was often
blamed for much of Newfoundland’s social and economic ills.
In the early thirties Responsible Government came to a close in
Newfoundland. Responsible Government under Sir Richard Squires
was defeated in a national election and the new Alderdice government
was staring bankruptcy in the face. Britain stepped in to guarantee
the country’s bonds and like a bank foreclosing on a mortgage took over the
operation of Newfoundland by the device of Commission of Government.
This commission consisted of three native Newfoundlanders and three
British civil servants and was presided over by a governor who held the
deciding vote in the event of split decisions, administered the nation’s
affairs through the lean thirties and more prosperous forties. During Commission
of Government, with the help of the Canadian and American war expenditures in
Newfoundland, the island began to prosper, and Britain decided to review the
economic situation of Newfoundland again.
To give Newfoundland a say concerning
their present status and their future the British Government proposed that a
National Convention of elected Newfoundlanders be called so that the situation could be
studied and recommendations be made to the Dominion’s Office.
What was the status and future of Newfoundland’s political system in
1946? Which form of government would be most suitable to Newfoundland’s
welfare? Some of the ideas and choices of the time were:
Retain Commission of Government in its present form/modified and representative form.
A closer union with Great Britain.
Confederation with Canada.
Newfoundland and in particular St. John’s was well known to many a Canadian serviceman who because of Newfoundland’s strategic position spent part of his/her wartime life in St. John’s.
The servicemen recalled a warm friendly people, who though not possessing a
great deal of the world’s wealth, nevertheless shared what Canada had gladly and freely.
