Joey Smallwood always agreed with the Churchillian dictum that if you want history to treat you fairly, you must write it yourself. Thus until his death in 1992, the story of Newfoundland’s Confederation with Canada has always been the story Joey wrote of himself as the hero of the toiling masses, leading a poverty-stricken people into the economic paradise of Canadian union.
Now it is time to tell the real truth about the clandestine deal between London and Ottawa that made Newfoundland the dupe of foreign interests and the Confederation referenda a travesty of democracy.
Peter Cashin, the war hero son of an ex-Newfoundland Prime Minister, formed the Responsible Government League to fight Smallwood’s union-with –Canada campaign, and force the British to honour their promise of returning independence to Newfoundland, so Confederation could be properly negotiated.
This is the story of Cashin’s struggle to save his country from conspiracy, the vicious attempts to smear and silence him, and his final desperate appeal to the British Privy Council to declare Confederation unconstitutional before it could be legalized by a Commons vote in Ottawa.
Keywords: England, Banks of Newfoundland, Michael Cashin, Peter Cashin, Joey Smallwood, Confederation, Canada, referenda, Canadian Union, Democracy, Responsible Government, independence, British Privy Council, unconstitutional, Commons Vote, Newfoundland Responsible Government Leaque.
Acts: 2
Male Roles: 12
Female Roles: 2