The NL blogosweird (yes, I’m stealing it from Kinsella. Deal.) is alight with George Baker’s outburst on Power Play, and the subsequent overreaction by, oh, everybody, in response.
If you haven’t seen the clip yet, I highly encourage it. The entertainment value is through the roof.
Essentially, Baker made comments to the effect that the mistreatment of the federal government of Newfoundland and Labrador was stoking the nationalist movement here, and could one day result in the creation of the Bloc Newfoundland and Labrador (BNL, nicely done Tim Clark.) “$1.7 billion dollars,” he screamed as he pounded his hands together, “cut cut cut cut cut!” All this accentuated by repeated “cutting” gestures of course. Again, wonderful showmanship.
Several of the more sovereigntist-leaning bloggers and political wonks ’round these parts leapt to Baker’s defence, saying that of COURSE the NL separatist movement is growing- how could it not? I mean, nobody gets mistreated this long and sticks around, amirite?
As if anybody needs to be blowing more sunshine up King Danny’s ass these days. People make it seem as if Williams, the calculating, ruthless Rhodes Scholar and business magnate, couldn’t see past the political acumen of Stephen Harper in 2006; he was just trying to help out his province, and got duped by this evil, evil man. Indeed, Danny trusted Harper, who went on to break that trust in an ever-escalating war of attrition.
If what Baker said was completely true, why didn’t the NL First party gain more than a smattering of support? Surely, the disaffected masses must be rising in opposition to the mainland and cleaving to the party that “stands up” for Newfoundland and Labrador.™
Of course Harper and his newfound Senator lapdog are going to pounce on what Baker said- they can’t believe a caucus member had an independent thought. That’s grounds for expulsion with the Tories these days.
Newfoundland is simply the latest in a long procession of provinces who are seemingly swept up in separatist fervour. Alberta was the same way a while back- “you can only kick a dog so long…” So much for that.
Quite frankly, there’s no comparison between the Bloc Quebecois and any sort of Bloc NL, for a number of reasons. One, even Albertans would have to agree that Quebec has a rather unique cultural milieu when compared to the rest of the country- must be all them funny words they say. And no, adding “s” and “h” to words where they don’t belong does not qualify as another language.
Two, the Bloc Quebecois is notoriously difficult to pin down on the economic spectrum- they began as mostly disaffected Tories, but have increasingly ventured to the political centre-left, although veering hard right sometimes on social issues. The one thing the Bloc members have in common (other than mental deficiencies) is an undying commitment to sovereignty above all else. They can put other bickering aside for their perceived good of the province. Try that here. We all know there are some die-hard Tories or Liberals that would rather eat dirt and pry out their own fingernails than vote Red or Blue, not to mention the hardcore Dippers who coalesce around either one provincial politician or one federal politician (although in boom times, this inflates to include one provincial politician and one federal politician). A Bloc NL would inevitably fall apart as one or all sides would eviscerate the other.
Thirdly, and perhaps most glibly, Quebec has 75 seats in the House, and is one of the country’s economic engines. NL has seven seats, a bit of offshore oil, and some nice rocks up in the place provincial politicians don’t like to talk about (Lab-raw-door?) Even if a BNL was successful here, they’d be drowned out on the national stage. The BQ works because, grudgingly as hell, Canadians have learned it’s probably best to listen rather than go through another referendum, whereas they can forget about NL out here in the fog.
If there is a rise in NL separatism, it is solely because Danny Williams deliberately strokes the egos of all those nascent nationalists by constantly billing the day-to-day workings of intergovernmental relations as a pitched battle between the Proud, Strong, and Determined and the evil Ottawa. Grimes tried the same thing, but to less success. “No, don’t blame any of the province’s economic woes on my chronic mismanagement of government and the public purse- no, blame Ottawa, the source of all things bad and untrue!” What’s worse is the people lap it up.
We need to get Greg Thomey out of 22 Minutes retirement- now, surely, is the time for the reappearance of Jerry Boyle and the Newfoundland Separation Federation.
If you can mark an X…
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