Before Newfoundland joined confederation what exactly was the situation in Labrador.
Was it a territory?..........a part of Newfoundland?
I've often wondered.
Also, now that Newfoundland is finally get into its own economically, if Newfoundland separate then would she take Labrador with her?

Labrador's political status was pretty ambiguous for a long time since there was basically zero European presence inland, although there was a migratory fishery there as early as the 1500s. It has explicitly been a part of Newfoundland since the early 1800s. I'm not sure how far inland the boundaries extended, but at the time that was probably considered unimportant. It was probably just a strip along the coast. At one point, Labrador was considered a part of Quebec. Newfoundland didn't even have colonial status or representative government until the 1820s.

Interesting.........thanks

Most of the new mineral development {ie Voisey Bay} is in Labrador is it not?
Lots of potential there. If Newfoundland ever left it ould be a real goldmine for the country's economy.

No offence to you, fellow BCer, but I'm all in favour of NL seceding from the Confederation and taking Labrador's mineral wealth with her. I was in NL this Summer and broached the subject with a lot of people there. A lot of the younger people I spoke with feel that Canada has done a disservice to the NL maritime economy by mismanagement of the fishery in the area—it's only fair that they grab the natural resources in Eastern Labrador.

Besides, all their countrymen could come home from their mineral economy-based jobs in the frozen wastes of Northern Alberta and ply their trades in the punishing climate of Labrador. Kind of like the resurgence of Ireland. I was married to a Dubliner who had been part of the huge emigration of the 80s. A few years after our divorce he went back to Ireland—along with a preponderance of his generation—when the Irish economy rebounded in the mid-90s.

An apt comparison, I believe. NL is just not culturally Canadian—at least not in my experience. There's a sense of community there that I have only seen elsewhere above the 49 in small Prairie towns, and a true friendliness and generosity of spirit that I have found in short supply in the more Caledonian-influenced remainder of anglophone Canada—even Cape Bretoners seem reticent in comparison. In fact, the last time I met so many friendly strangers was when I travelled to Ireland to visit my former in-laws!

So I would love to see Newfoundland and Labrador get on its feet again and go back to its tradition of looking after its own, without Ottawa sticking its snout in and messing things up for them. If they do, I hope they'll allow me to move there. My 600 square feet of East Vancouver would buy a 3-bedroom house in St John's.

I am extremely skeptical of their claim that Ottawa destroyed the Newfoundland fishery, because before the fish stocks collapsed fishermen there were constantly demanding that quotas be increased. Ottawa did not force them to overfish, and there's no reason to believe that local management of the fishery would have been any better. In fact, it probably would have been worse since the fishermen hold much more power over St. John's than over Ottawa.

I think their issue with Ottawa was not around their quotas, but in allowing so many "outsiders" into the fishery (whomever they are)—at least what some have said to me.

Mind you, I have no knowledge of the history of the Atlantic fishery, but I've known commercial fisherman from the Continental US, Alaska and Canada who claim that the worst damage to the Northeastern Pacific has been done by trawlers from Russia and Asia who violated the 200-mile limit and other treaty provisions designed to preserve the fishery—something that has been going on since the 70s on the West Coast.

I'm going to assume that Atlantic Canada doesn't have some of the additional environmental issues that have hurt the West Coast fisheries—such as habitat destruction through logging, dredging, etc—or at least not on such a large scale. Any other regulatory issues that would impact the fishing industry in the region are completely unknown to me.

Plus, it was mostly younger Newfoundlanders who made these claims. Their generation doesn't have much to look to in NL, and maybe this was the answer their parents' generation gave them for why their prospects are so miserable.

Whatever their reasons, if it's workable I see no issue with Newfoundland and Labrador becoming autonomous, and perhaps for there to be a more regional approach to regulating the fishing industry: involving NL and the Maritime provinces, but leaving Ottawa out of it if possible. As I said in a previous post, the Newfoundlanders really aren't culturally Canadian, and there seems to be little love lost between youse anyway.

I've hear this many times. My father was there serveral times and said it reminded him of Ireland.
Iceland is a small isolated place where English is not the language but have done very well and is very prosperous.
Personally I think if there was one province that leave i'd put my money on Newfoundland.
Newfoundland's biggest problem is its very high level of provincial debt. It would be crushing.
I could see becoming part of the EU.
I also needs to keep its best and brightest home as the population falls although St.John's is still growing as people from the outports leave either for Alberta or St.John's for employment.
Are there any recent polls on the subject?