Politics in Newfoundland / / S.J.R. Noel.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: Noel, S.J.R.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2020]; ©1971
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (342 p.)

Alone among the present provinces of Canada, Newfoundland remained politically separate until 1949, and until 1933 maintained its political independence as a self-governing dominion, constitutionally the equal of Canada itself. At that time, however, facing financial collapse, it became the first country to surrender dominion status. Its parliamentary government was replaced by a British-appointed commission which ruled the island without any vestige of representative democracy for fifteen years.This is the first comprehensive examination of the turbulent politics which characterized the rise and fall of the Dominion of Newfoundland, and in which the present-day politics of the province have their genesis. For, contrary to what is often assumed, politics in the island did not begin anew with confederation, but grew out of an existing political culture from roots which survived the long hiatus of commission rule.Professor Noel examines politics in Newfoundland in the twentieth century, paying particular attention to the role of political parties (including the emergence of the radical Fishermen’s Protective Union movement) and to the effects of international economic forces and diplomatic entanglements upon domestic affairs. He also studies the administration of the Commission of Government, and processes of social and political change in the post-confederation period. Contemporary politics on the island of Newfoundland cannot be fully understood without an appreciation of the evolution of its political institutions.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- 1. The land, the people, and the constitution -- 2. The political system -- 3. The railway and politics -- 4. The Liberal party and relations with the United States and Canada -- 5. The fall of the Liberal party -- 6. The People's party and the constitutional crisis of 1908-9 -- 7. The rise of the union movement -- 8. The union in politics -- 9. Politicians and the war, 1914-19 -- 10. The post-war coalition -- 11. The crisis of the twenties -- 12. The collapse of responsible government -- 13. Unconditional surrender -- 14. The Dominion of Newfoundland: a retrospect -- 15. Government by commission: the apotheosis of the bureaucrat -- 16. The return to open politics -- 17. Post-confederation society and politics -- Appendix A -- Appendix B -- Appendix C -- Bibliography -- Index