Today we are Canadians. Do you realize that people in this province who are more than 50 years of age were not Canadian citizens when they were born? It is difficult to think that people went to bed on March 31,1949 as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and woke up the next morning as Canadians. How did this happen?

After World War I, Newfoundland and Labrador found itself deep in debt because it had to borrow money to engage in the war. Then the Great Depression came and many were thrown out of work. Great Britain, who had granted us the right to govern ourselves in 1854, decided to rule us as a colony once again through a Commission of Government. This Commission made all the laws, and raised and spent money as it saw fit. It set out to make government more effective but cut services to the people to save money.

After World War II, Great Britain announced that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians would be allowed to decide how they were to be governed in the future. A group of representatives, elected by the people, formed the National Convention to identify which way we could be governed. Should Newfoundland and Labrador continue to be ruled directly by Great Britain through a Commission of Government? Should a Responsible Government be put back in place so that people could rule themselves? Should Newfoundland and Labrador join Canada as its tenth Province? Or should the colony become economically joined to the United States? All of these options were hotly debated from 1946 to1948.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians had suffered greatly during the Great Depression of the 1930s. People who were unemployed often suffered from malnutrition and disease and had to rely upon handouts from the government in order to get by. The Second World War brought better times because people found jobs working at military bases. It is no surprise, then, that the Confederates played the economic card. Joseph R. Smallwood delivered many campaign speeches where he argued that Confederation would bring the "baby bonus" (i.e., a monthly payment to a family for each child), old-age pension, better hospitals, roads, and a better standard of living.

The key to the outcome was Britain and where it stood on the issue. If the colony gained the right to rule itself, Britain would not be able to offer financial aid should its economy collapse again. The best solution to the problem, as far as Britain was concerned, was for Newfoundland and Labrador to become a province of Canada.

Eventually, agreement was reached to offer three options for people to vote on in a referendum. The results of the vote on June 3,1948 were as follows:

This outcome offered no solution; although the confederation side lost, neither of the other two won. So, a second referendum was scheduled for July 22, 1948 and only the two front runners were listed on the ballot.

Since those in favour of Confederation now sensed that victory was within reach, they campaigned harder than ever. When the votes were in on the second referendum, the Confederation side received 78 323 votes (52.3%) and Responsible Government, 71 334 votes (47.7%). The result was narrow victory for Confederation.

On December 11, 1949 Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador signed the Terms of Union which set out the conditions under which Newfoundland and Labrador would become a province. On February 17, 1949, the Parliament of Canada gave its consent; shortly afterwards, the British parliament did the same. At midnight of March 31, 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador was adopted into the Canadian family. On April 1,1949 Joseph R. Smallwood formed a government to rule the new province until the first election could be held.