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Subject: Newfoundland and Labrador

Author:
Jim (Canada)

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Date Posted: 21:46:05 01/05/05 Wed
In reply to: Owain (UK) 's message, "Labrador?" on 21:23:32 01/05/05 Wed

OK - here is a bit of a geography lesson to accurately put you in the picture.

First of all, Newfoundland (all one word) is a province, not a state - we don't have states in Canada, we have provinces - a term retained from colonial days. Australia has states.

The province is officially called Newfoundland and Labrador and contains two geographical parts - one is Labrador, which is a region on the mainland, bordering on Quebec, and the other is the island of Newfoundland. The capital is St. John's, on the island.

You are quite correct, these two pieces made up the former Dominion of Newfoundland, which had dominion status within the British Empire from 1917 to 1933. The border between Labrador region and Quebec was disputed, but was settled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London in 1927. Newfoundland (Labrador region) won the dispute by gaining its claimed territory at the expense of Quebec. Quebec nationalists refuse to recognise this today.

The Dominion of Newfoundland reverted back to colonial status in 1933 due to financial difficulties. It could not maintain its own economy, so London bailed it out.

After the Second World War, in 1948, two referenda were held on its future. In the first vote, Newfoundlanders had the choice of restoring dominion status, remaining a colony or joining Canada. In a second referendum, they had just two choices of restoring dominion status or joining Canada. Joey Smallwood led the campaign to join Canada which was successful by only 52%. In 1949, Newfoundland became Canada's tenth Province. Joey Smallwood, a Liberal, became the first Premier. The Province, like all Canadian provinces, has its own legislature, a Premier, and a Lieutenant Governor to represent the Crown.

Recently, the Labrador region wanted to be more recognised, so the official name of the province was changed from Newfoundland to Newfoundland and Labrador to accurately reflect the two sections of the Province and to give Labrador the recognition it wanted.

Danny Williams, a Conservative, is the current Premier.

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Replies:

[> [> [> [> Subject: By recent you mean in the last decade?
Author: Owain (UK) [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 21:57:21 01/05/05 Wed [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Yes - the change was made about two years ago
Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 22:01:18 01/05/05 Wed [ Post a Reply to This Message ]