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| Last updated at 2:50 AM on 06/05/07 |
Rallying the troops 
Yes, I’m uncomfortable when Upper Canadians get uppity about the poorest province, but I’m more uneasy about some of the reactions than the original offence. Utter the word ‘Newfie,’ and the ‘fighting
PETER JACKSON
The Telegram
I still haven’t decided whether I’m going to attend the “Stand Up For Newfoundland” rally Friday at the Confederation Building. My dilemma is that I can’t get a handle on what, exactly, I’d be standing up for.
It’s called a “trust and confidance (sic) rally,” so I suppose we’d be standing up in solidarity against Ottawa’s betrayal. But isn’t that the sort of justice best meted out at the polling booth? It’s hard enough to explain the rationale behind Atlantic Accords and offset payments without turning the whole issue into a street circus.
In the end, this rally is clearly doomed to become another awkward display of Newfoundland nationalism.
Newfoundland nationalism has always been a source of conflict for me. I’m invariably attracted to its sentiments, but equally embarrassed by many of its manifestations.
My sense of place is certainly bound up in the geography of this place. The stunted, boreal woodlands and craggy coastlines are like few other places in the world. When I lived for a couple of years in Southern Ontario, a visit to the shores of Lake Erie proved a major disappointment. No salt spray or crisp, ocean breeze — just a muffled breath of air across impotent waves.
So, I’m willing to stand up for that Newfoundland. In fact, I love to brag about the intrinsic beauty of Newfoundland and Labrador every chance I get.
But there’s a certain kind of insular pride here that grates, that stubbornly plants its feet and bellows, “I’d rather be in Newfoundland,” in a defiant, neo-Irish brogue. It’s a pride that flatly refuses to acknowledge that people anywhere else in the world can be as frank, friendly and nature-bound as Newfoundlanders.
In truth, day-to-day experiences from one part of Canada to the next are not really that far apart. You can still get a strong cup of tea and a friendly nod in Manitoba, and a cottage on Ontario’s Lake Simcoe offers pretty much the same pleasures as a cabin on Middle Gull Pond.
Yes, I’m uncomfortable when Upper Canadians get uppity about the poorest province, but I’m more uneasy about some of the reactions than the original offence. Utter the word “Newfie,” and the “fighting Newfoundlander” snaps into action. (A local newspaper editor once panned a television commercial because he contended the use of the word “goofy” was a veiled reference to “goofy Newfies.”)
When the Margaret Wentes of the world make their off-colour observations, they ought to be put straight. But sometimes the indigno-meter tends to jump right off the scale. Our cheeks must be red-raw with all the so-called “slaps in the face” we endure. My advice? Get over it.
Bloomed with vigour
Then there is that related variety of nationalism that has bloomed with some vigour in recent years — that of the we’d-be-better-off-on-our-own ilk. I occasionally entertain the notion of separatism, but it is always tempered by the realization that our standard of living would take a serious nosedive. Short of nationalizing all our resource industries — a questionable scenario at best — we could not possibly make up for the drop in federal cash infusions. Undaunted, go-it-aloners love to wave their magic wands and turn Newfoundland’s heavily subsidized economy into a self-sustaining one.
Barrelling down the middle of all this is Danny Williams, who seems willing to flirt with just about any flavour of nationalist pride that suits him. His popularity in the polls attests to his uncanny ability to push all the right buttons.
Williams had a genuine desire to lift Newfoundland out of its second-class morass when he was first elected. Having encountered all the usual obstacles along the way, however, he has become increasingly volatile. This is regrettable, since it gives the ever-present gallery of negative nellies ample opportunity to shift focus away from the issues and onto the person.
A handful of local pundits have unleashed stinging criticisms of Williams’ personal style in recent days, something that often says more about the critics than the premier. Incredibly, they insist at the same time that such criticism is somehow being “suppressed” — one assumes by a Machiavellian posse of supporters and aides.
In actual fact, Williams’ tenure is following much the same path as his predecessors’. He rode into office on a wave of nationalist pride and now finds himself slowly being turned into a pariah. What was, at first, a noble fight against federal condescension is now being portrayed as showboating. A determined stance against resource giveaways turns into an unfriendly climate for business. It’s always a lose-lose proposition for premiers in this province, and I’m at a loss to explain why anyone aspires to the post.
At any rate, there is a more subtle strain of Newfoundland nationalism to which I like to think I adhere — one that doesn’t bellyache extensively about sovereignty or snide slurs.
It’s a kind of quiet majority that takes pride in Newfoundland’s long and storied history but also takes a realistic stance with regards to its future.
It’s important that we nurture our pride and our unique culture at every opportunity, but it doesn’t advance our cause to bash it over people’s heads when things don’t go our way. In some ways, I like Williams’ latest tone, in which he talks about being masters of our own destiny, but as a province within the Canadian federation. It represents a happy balance between nationalist pride and pragmatism.
We may not be threatening to take down Canadian flags anymore, but let’s not wrap ourselves too tightly in the Newfoundland flag, either.
Peter Jackson is The Telegram’s editorial page editor. He can be reached at pjackson@thetelegram.com
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06/05/07
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