How has Newfoundland & Labrador fared as a province of Canada?

[@johnodds9200]

Anyone remember when they had the Newfoundland Republic Flag near the oil tanks in St Johns? I feel probably like alot of you, I have more loyalty to NL over Canada.

[@OutdoorWarrior]

It was signed 1:29am April first Newfoundland time. 11:49 Canadian time. Dawn breaks first over the island of Newfoundland so it was April first not march 31st

[@MrJayehawk]

I was born in the 1970s and I'm proud to be Canadian. I have been to every province and have even lived in five of them. But even though I have now lived just over half my life away from the island, I still identify myself a Nflder first and Canadian second.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

Me too buddy. With you with pretty much everything you just said 👍

[@tuckerandi]

Mark i think i feel like you I'm a mixed bag of feelings on this. Ive head comparisons to Norway and how they have a booming economy with similar resources and size to Newfoundland I've never ever sat down to check the facts. My opinion is that we are abundantly rich in resources but we seem to fail by having everything mismanaged and exported or traded off with little to no return to the province. I feel Canada is an awesome country but while we are free to travel coast to coast to coast we are very much a devided country and the ciuntry would be be much better if we could operate as an whole and not each individual province and territory operating as individuals. The fact that Newfoundland had to put a power line through the maritimes because they couldn't go through Quebec is the heights of ridiculousness. The power company can put a power line through your back yard and declare it an easement yet we can get akong as a country to build and economical powerline through a province that we could and should share equally and provide much needed power to the US. Its too late and I've said enough by now lol. Great videos BTW.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

This idea of bypassing Quebec with the power lines was and forever will be insanity, but there are so many people/entities at fault here. There are a lot of reasons to celebrate being part of Canada, but there are lots of reasons to question what being part of Canada actually even means.

[@tuckerandi]

@@mark_royle_newfoundland I agree 100% my buddy , yeah we'd need a lot of fingers to point blame lol. Like you said there are goods and not so goods and maybe some really horrible but in the end of the day I'm proud to be Canadian , not as proud as I am being a Newfoundland er lol, but it is what it is now we learn to live with it and if only we had some common sense kick in we could make the country great again lol (I had to say that) maybe you and I should run for government lol.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

@@tuckerandi may as well! No one else ever does a friggin thing.

[@tuckerandi]

@@mark_royle_newfoundland You got that right my friend , I don't think we could do any worse LOL

[@angelomarcuzzi1707]

I’ve lived in Canada 69 of my 70 years ! I have witnessed so much change and division in this once greatly respected nation ! I’ve had the privilege through work to see most of the beautiful landscape and the resilience of my fellow Canadians! I’m truly disappointed in how our Governments have always put a sense of division between the West and East . They treated the East by giving them handouts limiting their potential to feel proud and independent to expand their potentials . They continuously stifled and crippled the West’s potentials as well and continue to do so to this day . We have all the natural resources in this nation but we have wasteful , pathetic leaderships. Look I don’t have all the answers but I will tell you one thing we need new leadership someone who doesn’t come from a privileged background that has no idea of what struggles even mean ! I truly hope Canadians wake up before it’s really to late we need someone who comes from simple , humble beginnings perhaps Pierre Poliviere can help here’s hoping !

[@exilednf1647]

I have always felt like a Newfoundlander and have never felt Canadian. I've lived in Ontario for 24 years, almost half my life. I still don't feel Canadian. No one from the mainland understands that. I don't care.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

From your other comments (and this one), I think we have a lot in common

[@lukerobinson700]

Hey Mark, just stumbled on to your channel and I've been loving all your videos. I'm a similar story to so many others, moved away to Alberta, and now somehow ended up in Ohio. I haven't been back since 2012 but this summer I'll be coming home finally for a long overdue visit. I hold the same optimism you do for the province, I think its safe to say Newfoundland and Labrador had the wind knocked out of their sails after the moratorium happened, and I think its going to take a full generation until we get it back to the right spot. The reliance on a single industry will do that to a place, and its no different to where I am living now in north east Ohio, with the steel industry here. It'll take some time, and some of us younger folks moving back to begin innovating on the island and starting new industries and just finding new ways to make it work out there, but it's 100% possible. One thing is certain, there are plenty of Newfoundland diaspora all over the world at this point, and I know we all still feel that cultural tie to this beautiful province, I can't wait to see what it looks like in the next 5-10 years, and who knows, maybe I'll be part of it too. Keep up the videos! I truly believe the best is yet to come for the province.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

Thank you Luke. I'm with you. It has been a tough go for the past 30 years, and there have been more than a few periods that match, or at least come close to this one over Newfoundland's history. But we haven't given up on the place yet and there is reason for optimism. Still lots of big challenges ahead so we'll see, but I am more than hopeful. Love to see that I'm not the only one.

[@DiCE_555]

Newfoundland has historically suffered from poor leadership. Its hard to imagine that we would have had as good an outcome on our own, but I think we should of joined America instead of Canada. Americans invested so much in Newfoundland during that time, the air bases that turned into airports, the military bases which bring the need for shipping routes, skilled labor, increased food security, communications infrastructure, and culture.

[@keithosmond5730]

Definitely NOT America. First, odds are we'd only have been accepted as a territory, like Puerto Rico or Guam. Second, the US is presently a political disaster; very glad NOT to be part of that mess.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

They sure did invest a lot in NL. Whether any of it was actually FOR us is highly doubtful but we definitely benefited. There was more good that came from the American presence than many of us are aware of.

[@DonKnight-qi4tu]

Hi Mark, I was born in Newfoundland as were my parents. I am Canadian, they are Colonials. I do not know their thoughts on Confederation, my Grandfather (mom's side) felt Newfoundland would have been better served as a state and not a province. Me, I'm proud of my heritage, I am a Newfie first, Canadian second and glad I am not an American. I know there is much to debate about the Confederation vote, something that I was unaware of until the 1992 Mary Walsh movie a Secret Nation. Prior to its Canadian status, there was a lot wrong in Newfoundland. The building of the railroad was a joke, TB was a problem, my father lost the last two years of university because of it. The sealing disaster. Like so many we left. My parents for work, my brother and I had no choice. I was last back in January '20. Driving up the west coast, the childhood memories, the brief time in Port aux Basques, learning to skate in Steady Brook. Newfoundland is the best place on the planet and I am looking for a way home.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

Really appreciate this Don, thanks for sharing.

[@hijackjoe]

As a NATO base brat from Nunatsiavut, peronnely I've benefited a lot, if not more, from our USA relationship oddly enough than Canada. I have tons of good stories about moving around in the USA and alot of self confidence. I was educated really well despite not having many resources when I came back and on my own for quite awhile. You could argue, there is a genetic thing or how I was raised by Newfoundland/Labradorian, and there is most likely truth to that too. I think the province, like the territories such as Yukon, learnt to manage there resources really well with regards to claims of ownership and saving those monies and investing in education internally. Something Newfoundland/Labrador/Nunatsiavut, I mean, anywhere in the world could really benefit from. It takes alot of resources to become self reliant of economic resources, but usually well worth the investments. Look at the economic history of Norway.

[@elijahmoss]

Hello mark How I can reach to you ? I just feel like we need to connect. I look forward to coming to NL before the end of the year.

[@Newfoundlander1916]

I'm a Newfoundlander and I have never identified with Canada. As a Newfoundlander, go stand in the middle of Toronto or any major city in Canada and tell me you feel at home. Newfoundland is my only home and only national identity.

[@codraven57]

My story is so similar as yours Mark. I spent 16 yrs in Alberta and 4 in BC. Now into my 5th yr in NS we are moving back to NL. I started all of this about 10 yrs before you and my wife is from Edmonton. NL was forced into it and you are about good and bad.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

I'm willing to bet there's quite a few more Newfoundlanders who share this story too. Thanks for chiming in!

[@jean-pierrehebert2468]

During the second world war my father was a corporal in the Régiment de Québec . He was a ''signaleur'' and he was sent to Newfoundland in remote places with 3 or 4 other soldiers . His job was to look at the sea and report sighting of German Submarines . In 5 years he never saw one . At that time Newfoundland was still a British Colony or some other status, I dont know . Everywhere he was welcomed by very friendly and generous people but he also told me that the people were extremely poor . After the war ,Britain was bankrupt and unable to help Newfoundland . I suppose something drastic had to be made, become independant, join the USA or join Canada . As you said , was joining Canada the best deal ? We will never know. On a personnel point of view i must say that i resent the fact that the province of Québec has refused to renegiciate the contract for the electricity of Churchill Fall. In our féderation,i feel we should help each other .

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

Thank you for sharing. Yes, that Churchill Falls situation has been a sore point for us for a long time and it is very frustrating that nothing at all has been done to make things even a little bit more equitable between 2 provinces of a single nation for all this time.

[@nickcollins4268]

Hard to say, like you said, a mixed bag. I don't think we could have managed fishery any worse than Ottawa. We could do alot worst for sure.

[@jeremybenoit759]

Ottawa milks newfoudland like a cow it barely feeds.

[@JohnnyJMurphy]

I’m 35 I love being a Newfoundlander and I’m a proud Canadian, I will say I think long term NL would have been better joining the USA at the time of the vote. However between gold, iron, hydro power and oil I feel we would have been fine as our own country aswell

[@JohnnyJMurphy]

@beerClub1 newfounflander first and Canadian 2nd no doubt

[@JohnnyJMurphy]

@beerClub1 there are also some good one about NL shot by the BBC in the late 70's- mid 80's. Ive seen 2 but i ly remember the name of 1 its called " the lost irish". Its in YT and essentially its saying how you can bearly tell the difference between rural NL and Ireland. The host of the doc is irish and he said the accent is the same as the town he is from. Everything from kitchen partys, to slang, to way of life he said if you feel asleep in 1 place and woke up in the other you wouldn't know. Its a good watch about 70 mins if i remember

[@logybaygroovers]

rather be canadian than american or british 😎 there's no possible history where NL would become an independent nation state if so we'd be a lot more like a poor Caribbean island than a 1st world country what were we supposed to do? fight Portuguese fisherman with our navy? world is better with less borders Xi would be sizing us up for infrastructure loans if we weren't part of a bigger rich nation rn

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

Yup pretty much exactly this.

[@nathangeestudios6644]

Mr.Royale, here is my opinion. As a confederate Canadian, I believe that NL would have been better off as an independent nation. Being under British rule for the longest period of time in history was enough for a change for your people. Joining Canada was a terrible mistake and probably regretted by your grandparents and those still alive if born before the 1949 annexation. There was already growing movement at the time for NL to regain independence but your former leader J. Smallwood had some audacity to put Canada on the ballot for some excusable reason. A return to independence when you had your own currency, time zone, resources, news network, and even newspaper chain would have therefore been the best option. Nobody in UK or Canada would be scolding/dictating NL and they would be free to fish again. Even the Hollywood companies would have done business there as well without red tape or heavy tax. I always thought what NL would look like as a nation. I might consider doing a video of that but not sure how. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[@mark_royle_newfoundland]

Thanks for sharing. It really is an amazing "what if?" question.