Attitudes About Newfoundland Confederation

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Attitudes of Canada, Great Britain, Newfoundland, and the United States About Newfoundland’s Integration into Canada: 1939-1949 Around the time of Canada’s first Confederation, Newfoundland was for the most part against it. Joining Confederation would have caused them to lose their sovereignty, while also losing control over their resources and tax dollars. This was a fair assessment, considering their geographical separation from the rest of Canada. Furthermore, Newfoundland spent roughly five to ten years, beginning in the early 1940s, evaluating and campaigning for both responsible government and Confederation with Canada. This split Newfoundland in half ideologically, in terms of who wanted to join Canada and who did not. Aside from the content of Newfoundland’s amalgamation into confederation, another aspect that can be analyzed are the attitudes of Newfoundland, Britain, Canada, and even the United States prior to and about Newfoundland’s constitutional future. The once strong relationship between Newfoundland and Britain eventually disintegrated, as Britain wanted no more involvement with Newfoundland’s complications. The Canadian and Newfoundland attitudes shifted from 1939 to before confederation, as the majority of both countries grew to favour Confederation, while the United States did not see Confederation as a loss to them. Why Confederation Happened The attempt to shift Newfoundland’s governance over to Canada began in the early 1940s, and became a strong reality later that decade when they joined Canada through confederation. The period between Canada’s first Confederation and Newfoundland’s later integration with Canada in 1949 posed an era of diminishing British-run colonialism in Newfoundland. Most notably, Newfoundland became a liability, since during and after the Second World War, Britain was enduring a war-inflicted financial
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