Wente vs. Newfoundland

Here it is, the column that has Newfoundlanders screaming for blood again. Margaret Wente, normally one of this country's finest writers, thinks Danny and the Newfies are getting kind of uppity, and says Ontarians are fed up with subsidizing rural Newfoundland:

I like Newfoundlanders. I really do. But their sense of victimhood is unmatched. And their flag protest isn't winning them much sympathy on this side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In fact, the sensation on this side is of a deep and painful bite to the hand that feeds. Mr. Williams reminds me of a deadbeat brother-in-law who's hit you up for money a few times too often. He's been sleeping on your couch for years, and now he's got the nerve to complain that it's too lumpy.
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Over the years, those of us not blessed to be born on the Rock have sent countless cakes its way in the form of equalization payments, pogey, and various hare-brained make-work schemes. (Who can ever forget the hydroponic cucumber farm?) In return, the surly islanders have blamed us for everything from the disappearance of the cod stocks to the destruction of the family unit, because if people had to work more than 10 weeks before they could collect EI, they might have to move away.

This hallowed policy of siphoning money from the haves to the have-nots, so that everyone can be equal, has turned Canada into a permanently aggrieved nation, in which every region of the country is convinced that it's being brutally ripped off by every other region. No one is better at this blame game than the Newfs, egged on by generations of politicians. The only way to get elected there is to pledge to stop the terrible atrocities of Ottawa (i.e., not sending enough money). If you should make the error of suggesting that people might have to become more self-sufficient, your political career is dead. Politicians like to get elected, which is why things never change.

Newfoundland's population has dwindled to something less than that of Scarborough, Ont. Because of stupendous political malfeasance, it is at least $11-billion in debt. But it still has seven federal seats. And so we send more money so that people can stay in the scenic villages where they were born, even though the fish are gone and there's no more work and never will be, unless they can steal some telemarketing from Bangalore. Rural Newfoundland (along with our great land north of 60) is probably the most vast and scenic welfare ghetto in the world.

Ouch. Wente probably can't help being so condescending (she does write for The Globe and Mail, after all), and the comment about how Newfoundlanders "might have to move away" if they can't get EI is a cheap shot - thousands of Newfoundlanders do work in Alberta and Ontario, spending eight months of the year thousands of miles away to make something of themselves. Yes, Newfoundland recieves millions of dollars per year in federal largesse, and it has to end sometime - which is why Danny Williams is fighting for Newfoundland to gain control of its offshore oil revenues, just as if our oil was on land. Personally, I look forward to the day when Newfoundland has to start paying transfer payments to the mainland.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I think Wente's condescening, insulting column actually has a couple of good points.

We Newfoundlanders do have a finely tuned sense of victimhood. This morning, CBC Radio played a recording of a debate between Wente and John Crosbie on last night's Canada Now, and I cringed to hear Crosbie - an intelligent, passionate advocate for Newfoundland and Canada - describe Wente's attitude as "racism". We are a proud people, but we are definitely not a race, and calling criticism "racism" is the kind of political correctness at which Crosbie would normally (and rightly) sneer. Yes, we've been screwed by Ottawa many times, but any student of Newfoundland and Labrador's post-Confederation economic policies would tell you, we've done a pretty good job of screwing ourselves, too. (I'm reading Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson right now. The book - a refutation of persistent economic fallacies - could have been specifically written about this province.)

And unfortunately, while most Newfoundlanders want to work, the welfare state has indeed created a disturbingly large class who feel they don't have to do so, since Ottawa will take care of them. In much of the province, you can get EI for the rest of the year after working for only ten weeks, and it's downright embarassing to see the provincial government organizing worthless "make-work" projects to pay people for ten weeks so Ottawa will take care of the other 42. (EI is a federal program, while social assistance - "welfare", in other words - is provincial.) Employment Insurance was meant to tide people if they lost their jobs. In much of Newfoundland, it has indeed become a way of life, and eventually something has to give.

I'm with Danny on the offshore oil issue (even though I do not support his taking down the Canadian flag), and we shouldn't let cheap shots and condescension go unanswered. But I hope we're strong enough to be introspective and accept serious criticism, too.

Update: as if to prove Wente's point, someone sent an e-mail to my local CBC Radio station saying her column is a hate crime and that Ottawa has committed "cultural genocide" against Newfoundlanders. Get a f**king grip, people.

Posted by damian at January 7, 2005 08:00 AM