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Newfoundland and Canada. The Newfoundland referendums of 1948 were a series of two referendums to decide the political future of the Dominion of Newfoundland.Before the referendums, Newfoundland was in debt and went through several delegations to determine whether the country would join Canada ("confederation"), remain under British rule or regain independence.
It was adopted as the dominion's anthem on 20 May 1904, until confederation with Canada in 1949. In 1980, the province of Newfoundland re-adopted the song as a provincial anthem. The "Ode to Newfoundland" continues to be heard at public events in the province; however, only the first and last verses are traditionally sung.
In 1901 W. T. Stead, a newspaper editor in London, England, discussed in The Americanization of the World possible annexations of Canada and Newfoundland. He believed that because of its size and strength Canada would likely be the last of Britain's possessions in the Americas to join the United States.
Newfoundland rejected confederation with Canada in the 1869 general election. [27] Sir Robert Bond (1857–1927) was a Newfoundland nationalist who insisted upon the colony's equality of status with Canada, and opposed joining the confederation. [ 28 ]
Newfoundland's status as an independent dominion came to an end, along with party politics. Party politics returned to Newfoundland when it joined Canadian confederation in 1949 and a new Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador was formed under the leadership of Joseph Smallwood .
As documents in British and Canadian archives became available in the 1980s, it became evident that both Canada and the United Kingdom had wanted Newfoundland to join Canada. Some have charged it was a conspiracy to manoeuvre Newfoundland into Confederation in exchange for forgiveness of Britain's war debt and for other considerations.
The primary goal of Confederation in 1867 was to join the Province of Canada with the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in a new federation. There had also been attempts to include Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland in Confederation, but at the time the Constitution Act, 1867 was drafted and passed, those attempts had not ...
Both of them had participated in the negotiations for Confederation in 1864, but both had eventually declined to join. Prince Edward Island rejected Confederation after a change in government in 1865, [8] while Newfoundland rejected it in 1866, after the 1865 provincial election returned a majority of members opposed to Confederation. [9]