Newfoundland National Convention

The Newfoundland National Convention of 1946 was a forum established to decide the constitutional future of Newfoundland.

On 11 December 1945 the British Government announced that there would be an election to a national convention, which would debate constitutional options and make a recommendation as to which options would appear on a ballot in a national referendum. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee wanted to ensure that people from St John's, the capital and largest city, did not dominate the seats, so he recommended that delegates would be elected in the former electoral districts and that each delegate would have to have been a resident of the district. Nominations to the National Convention were held on May 31, 1946 and on June 21, 1946, Newfoundlanders elected 45 delegates. Two women offered themselves as candidates, but neither was elected. Lester Burry of Labrador secured a seat, the first time that Labrador had elected representation.

The National Convention was convened on September 11, 1946. Judge Cyril J. Fox, a Supreme Court of Newfoundland Justice, chaired the proceedings until his death. He was succeeded as chairman by Convention Member Gordon Bradley for most of the rest of the convention's duration, but after Bradley's resignation, the lawyer J.B. McEvoy served in the chair. The Commissioner of Home Affairs issued pay cheques to delegates: $15 a day, with a travelling stipend of $10 per day.

Observers allowed in the gallery and the general public could listen to the debates on radio stations VOCM, VOAR and the state-run Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland station, VONF.

Some delegates who were critical of the Commission of Government used the opportunity to demand that Commissioners justify to the convention some of their policies. However, Governor MacDonald explained that delegates were not the Government of Newfoundland, but were convened to debate the constitutional options which would appear on a ballot in a forthcoming referendum.

Many delegates believed Newfoundland should return to responsible government and self-determination; delegates sympathetic to Confederation with Canada were in a minority in the National Convention. On October 28, 1946, Joseph R. Smallwood moved that a delegation be sent to Ottawa to discuss Terms of Union with Canada. More motions and amendments were passed in the days following, when on October 30 Kenneth M. Brown, the delegate from Bonavista South, collapsed on the floor of the chamber. Tragedy struck again when on November 16, Judge Fox suffered a heart attack and died suddenly. Smallwood's motion revealed that confederation with Canada had only a minority of support in the Convention, but it was now on the agenda and the confederates used the radio broadcasts of the convention to tell the people of Newfoundland and Labrador of the financial advantages that joining Canada would bring. The convention adjourned on December 13 for the Christmas break, but the widespread feeling that Smallwood and the confederates had the upper hand encouraged St. John’s businessman F. M. O'Leary and others to form the Responsible Government League. The RGL was dedicated to the resumption of the former (1933) constitution for the Dominion.

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