Newfoundland and Labrador’s National Convention

I can remember my father and older brothers going to my uncle’s house, (we didn’t have a radio at the time) to listen to the speeches by those on both sides of the debate. My family supported Confederation with Canada, but there were others in the small community where we lived who strongly endorced a return to responsible government. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians had always taken thir politics seriously and this was to be no exception. Few people wanted Commission of government as it was known, and it was supported chiefly by those who didn’t trust the Confederates and didn’t want a return to the dire conditions they had experienced in the last years of responsible government. In many communities families were divided over the issue and even religion came into play when The Roman Catholic bishop of St. John’s told the members of his flock not to vote for union with Canada. The confederates response was to have H Gordon Bradley, no longer chair of the convention, but a former Grand Master of The Loyal Orange Association in Newfoundland, write all the local chapters of the orders declaring that the Roman Catholic church was trying to take over the country! It is to their credit that the ordinary citizen did not let this influence their thinking or it may well have led to sectarion violence. The referendum was held on June 3, 1948, but since neither side had a clear majority a second vote was held on July 22, with Commission of Government which had received 14 percent of the vote being dropped from the ballot. This time just over 52 percent of the electrate voted to join the Dominion of Canada. I remember well the jubilation in our home when the final count was released and we knew that we were to be a province of Canada, something my father felt should have happened more than two generations earlier.