| The Honourable Joey Smallwood PC, CC |
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| Smallwood signs the document bringing Newfoundland into Confederation. | |
| 1st Premier of Newfoundland | |
| In office March 31, 1949 – January 18, 1972 |
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| Preceded by | office created |
| Succeeded by | Frank Moores |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 24, 1900 Gambo, Newfoundland |
| Died | December 17, 1991 (aged 90) |
| Political party | Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Spouse(s) | Clara Oates |
| Signature | |
Joseph Roberts "Joey" Smallwood, PC, CC (December 24, 1900 – December 17, 1991) was the main force that brought Newfoundland into the Canadian confederation, and became the first Premier of Newfoundland . As premier, he vigorously promoted economic development, championed the welfare state, and emphasized modernization of education and transportation. Smallwood abandoned his youthful socialism and collaborated with bankers, turning against the militant unions that sponsored numerous strikes. The results of his efforts to promote industrialization were mixed, with the most favourable results in hydroelectricity, iron mining and paper mills Smallwood was charismatic and controversial. Never shy, he dubbed himself "the last Father of Confederation."
In the 1971 election, he ran for the electoral district of Placentia West.
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Joey Smallwood was born in Gambo, Newfoundland to Charles and Minnie May Smallwood. His grandfather, David Smallwood, was a well-known maker of boots in St. John's. Growing up in St. John's, as a teenager Smallwood worked as an apprentice at a newspaper and moved to New York City in 1920. In New York he worked for the socialist newspaper The Call. Smallwood returned to Newfoundland in 1925, where he soon met and married Clara Oates. In 1925 he founded a newspaper of his own in Corner Brook.
In 1928, he acted as campaign manager for the Prime Minister of the Dominion of Newfoundland, Sir Richard Squires. He also ran as a Liberal candidate in Bonavista in 1932 but lost. During the Great Depression, he worked for various newspapers and edited a two-volume collection titled "The Book of Newfoundland." He also hosted a radio program, The Barrelman, beginning in 1937 that promoted pride in Newfoundland's history and culture. He left the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland in 1943 to operate a pig farm at the Newfoundland Airport at Gander.[1]
As soon as prosperity returned in 1942, agitation began to end the Commission. Newfoundland, with a population of 313,000 (plus 5,200 in Labrador), seemed too small to be independent.[2][3]
Smallwood at this point was a well-known radio personality, writer and organizer; he was a nationalist who long had criticized British rule. In 1945, London announced that a National Convention would be elected in Newfoundland to advise on what constitutional choices should to be voted on by referendum. Union with the United States was a possibility, but London rejected the option and offered instead two options: return to dominion status or continuation of the unpopular Commission. Canada issued an invitation to join it on generous financial terms.
In 1946, Smallwood was elected a delegate to the Newfoundland National Convention, which was organized to make recommendations to London about the future of Newfoundland that would be placed before the people of the country in a constitutional referendum. Smallwood supported joining Canada, arguing that union with Canada would bring prosperity. His skills as a radio broadcaster served him well; he was able to use the proceedings of the Convention, which were broadcast over the radio, to publicise the benefits of union with Canada. He founded and led the Confederate Association that supported the Confederation option in the Convention during the 1948 Newfoundland referendums.[4]
At the convention Smallwood emerged as the leading proponent of confederation with Canada, insisting, "Today we are more disposed to feel that our very manhood, our very creation by God, entitles us to standards of life no lower than our brothers on the mainland."[5] Displaying a mastery of propaganda technique, courage and ruthlessness, he succeeded in having the Canada option on the ballot.[6] His main opponents were Peter J. Cashin and Chesley A. Crosbie. Cashin, a former finance minister, led the Responsible Government League, warning against cheap Canadian imports and the high Canadian income tax. Crosbie, a leader of the fishing industry, led the Economic Unionists, seeking responsible government first, to be followed by closer ties with the United States, which could be a major source of capital.[7]
Smallwood carried his cause in a hard-fought referendum and a runoff in June and July 1948 as the decision to join Canada (rather than restoration of independent dominion status) carried 77,869, as against 71,464, or 52.3%. A strong rural vote in favor of Canada overwhelmed the pro-independence vote in the capital of St. John's. The Irish Catholics in the city desired independence in order to protect their parochial schools, leading to a Protestant backlash in rural areas.[8] The promise of cash family allowances from Canada proved decisive.
Smallwood was a member of the 1947 Ottawa Delegation that negotiated the Terms of Union with Canada. He also created yet another newspaper, The Confederate, to promote Confederation. The 1948 referendums resulted in Confederation being approved, and in 1949, as leader of the Liberal Party, Smallwood was elected Premier of the new province.
Smallwood ran Newfoundland virtually unchallenged for 23 years and won 6 elections. The seventh, the 1971 general election resulted in a tie and Smallwood was forced to resign several months later in January 1972. He was forced out of the Liberal Party but tried to engineer a comeback by forming a new party, the Newfoundland Reform Liberal Party that unsuccessfully contested the 1975 provincial election.
He vigorously promoted economic development through the Economic Development Plan of 1951, championed the welfare state (paid for by Ottawa), and attracted favorable attention across Canada. He emphasized modernization of education and transportation to attract outsiders, such as German industrialists, because the local economic elite would not invest in industrial development. Smallwood dropped his youthful socialism and collaborated with bankers and became hostile to the militant unions that sponsored numerous strikes. His efforts to promote industrialization were a mixed bag, with the most favourable results in hydroelectricity, iron mining, and paper mills.[9]
Smallwood, during his career as Premier, would be accused of being autocratic and self-aggrandizing. He relied heavily on the expertise of German industry in his repeated attempts to industrialize Newfoundland in the post-Confederation period. Although he saw himself as a socialist, Smallwood was willing to side with corporations in his drive to industrialize the province. He granted foreign companies concessions to encourage development and even intervened in a labour dispute in 1959. The International Woodworkers of America had struck to get higher wages and better working conditions in the logging camps. In a controversial move, Smallwood decertified and effectively made the union illegal, replacing it with a government-sponsored union.
Smallwood brought libel suits against The Telegram and would threaten to pull government advertising over stories. In 1969, when he was challenged by John Crosbie for the leadership of the Liberal Party, Smallwood would send Cabinet ministers to delegate selection meetings with notebooks, detailing who voted for which slate of delegates and who would bring Crosbie delegates to his residence, forcing them to sign affidavits supporting Smallwood's leadership. The affidavits would later be published in local newspapers.
Smallwood remained premier until 1972, when he was finally defeated in the polls by Frank Moores and the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, who formed their first government in the new province's history after a narrow win at the polls.
In his retirement Smallwood resumed writing; publishing several books including an autobiography titled I Chose Canada. Late in life he began an ambitious project compiling a comprehensive Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador. The five volume set was completed by a charitable foundation after Smallwood's death. Smallwood's publishing firm, Newfoundland Book Publishers (1967) Ltd., published Volumes 1 and 2; the Smallwood Heritage Foundation completed and published Volumes 3, 4, and 5.
In 1986, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, after hesitating because he felt that he should be more honoured for bringing Newfoundland and Labrador into the Canadian confederation and would have liked to have had the "Right" Honourable added to his name.
In 1989, a new Marine Atlantic ferry, the MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood, was commissioned. It was decommissioned in 2011.
On December 17, 1991, only a week before his 91st birthday, he died and was buried with his wife, Clara, at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Wayne Johnston's 1998 novel The Colony of Unrequited Dreams presents a fictionalized portrayal of Smallwood.
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