Newfies seek a better deal

Next of Kin · Post by **Next of Kin** » 2003-05-08 06:40pm

Taken from the Toronto Star:

Newfoundland seeks to renegotiate union with Canada

How can they hope to renegotiate when they signed away the control of the fisheries when they joined Canada???

Post by **AdmiralKanos** » 2003-05-08 06:52pm

They're a fucking welfare state with poor education across the board, pitiful job skills, a workforce completely dependent upon a resource-based economy, and that silly accent of theirs. Why don't the little whiners just leave, so they can find out what it's like to try and survive without Ontario and Alberta paying their welfare bills?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-05-08 08:32pm

And my geography teacher brags about how her family is 'famous' there...

Of course, she also thought that the United Kingdom of Canada was a neutral power during the War of Independence and the War of 1812, so whatever...

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-05-08 10:32pm

As an ignorant American, I have to ask. What is the difference between Newfoundland and New Brunswick, aside from a few hundred KM?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-05-08 11:24pm

Howedar wrote:As an ignorant American, I have to ask. What is the difference between Newfoundland and New Brunswick, aside from a few hundred KM?

NB has a generally higher education level than Newfoundland. In the 1996 Census, roughly 8% of Newfoundland's total population could claim a university degree, as opposed to 10% for New Brunswick and 15% for Ontario.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2003-05-09 01:25am

Darth Wong wrote:NB has a generally higher education level than Newfoundland. In the 1996 Census, roughly 8% of Newfoundland's total population could claim a university degree, as opposed to 10% for New Brunswick and 15% for Ontario.

8%!? Holy shit that's pathetic!

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-05-09 07:43am

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:NB has a generally higher education level than Newfoundland. In the 1996 Census, roughly 8% of Newfoundland's total population could claim a university degree, as opposed to 10% for New Brunswick and 15% for Ontario.
8%!? Holy shit that's pathetic!

so, Newfoundland is Canada's very own version of West Virginia. interesting.

[steve irwin voice] Krikey! Here we see a fascinating phenomenon! A community of The North American Hillbilly Redneck (beerdrinkicus pickuptruckalus) has actually migrated from from it's native habitat in West Virginia and adapted to a new habitat thousands of miles north! Wow, these buggers are resiliant![/steve irwin voice]

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2003-05-09 12:08pm

I'm very rusty on my Canadian history, but wasn't Newfoundland a separate British colony from the rest of Canada until the early 20th century? Or am I thinking of some other province?

Hobot · Post by **Hobot** » 2003-05-09 02:44pm

You are correct, Newfoundland didn't join Canada until 1949. It was the the 10th and last province to join.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-05-09 02:47pm

Canada continues to amuse Sea Skimmer

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2003-05-09 05:15pm

On another board that I post on, there is a thread on the same subject.

Here's a couple of quotes from some of the Canadians on the board.

I'm a Bluenoser, here's my $0.02...

There seem to be two issues here, foreign over-fishing and the utter dependence of a regional economy on fishing. Personally I don't think it would be such a bad idea if we unilaterally extended juridicion out beyond the 200 mile limit to make sure that the migratory stocks are not being overfished.

The problem is that even if we do so, the biological evidence shows that the Cod stocks might well be so fucked that it's too late anyway. Having grown up in a small fishing community in Nova Scotia I can tell you anecdotally that as early as the mid-1980s the talk on the wharf was all about how much smaller the Cod were getting, even before the first major cuts to the quotas. These were old salts telling me about how "it used to be" in the '50s, '60s and '70s back around '86-'87. The Grand Banks and probably all along the Scotia Shelf to the Newfoundland Shelf have been in decline for 30 years or so. There is no quick fix.

The fact of the matter is that Canada has doen a piss poor job at managing the Grand Banks fishery since Newfoundland joined Confederation and in truth I can understand why the Newfies are so pissed off at the rest of us. But whether or not Canada has been mismanaging the stocks, the European and Japanese fleets have been not only raping the GB within the limits of the NAFO rules, but consistently overfishing well above and beyond the quotas that have been set. No wonder Newfoundlanders are so pissed off! It's one thing for Ottawa to say there's going to be a moratorium becasue DFO screwed the pooch, it's another thing entirely to see this moratorium because Ottawa has consistently failed to hold other countries to a reasonable level of explotation

Seems reasonable, but I'm no marine biologist and I'm not very familiar with the issue.

Election rhetoric.

Anyway, Nfld doesn't need more control over the fishery, we need the navy to be sent out and push the foreign trawlers out of our goddamned waters and told to stay out.

THAT is the problem.

Our .gov won't stand up for itself.
The Russians, Japanese, Spaniards, ect, just keep trawling our waters with FFT's and other gigantic ships and sweeping the oceans clean.

Once they boot those turds out, the problem will be solved, the Newfies will have jobs, and everyone will be happy.

It just takes the balls to do something about the real problem, which we are apparrently lacking.

Why wouldn't Ottawa enforce the quotas and kick the foreign trawlers out?
Going by the above, I'd say the Newfies have a reason to be pissed.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-05-09 05:26pm

Glocksman wrote:Why wouldn't Ottawa enforce the quotas and kick the foreign trawlers out? Going by the above, I'd say the Newfies have a reason to be pissed.

They've actually done that on occasion. They actually sent out choppers and boarded/captured a vessel that was illegally overfishing. The problem is that international laws permit you to rape fish stocks if they migrate outside an international boundary line.

Once that happens, you get competing claims. Party A says "those are OUR fish; they spawn in OUR territory. Stop fishing or you'll deplete the stock". Party B says "those fish are in international waters. YOU stop fishing or you'll deplete the stock". End result? Both parties fish as much as they think they should be allowed to do, under the assumption that the other will stop.

The same problem has been going on between America and Canada in the west, with the salmon.