Satirical Blog — Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper is quoted as saying:

“I think in Atlantic Canada, because of what happened in the decades following Confederation, there is a culture of defeat that we have to overcome.”

Stephen Harper is right on here. This culture of defeat is especially true of Newfoundlanders. This attitude was going on even before Confederation. Before Confederation — for 500 years — year in and year out Newfoundlanders have gone out on the ocean just to catch a few fish. Why would they do that? They didn’t get anything for their efforts. You wouldn’t know but they were doing it to earn a living. We all know that wasn’t the case, most of them barely got enough fish to feed their families let alone get some extra income to buy clothes or winter boots for their children. Over the centuries many hundreds of fishermen drowned just because they gave up too easily.

Take, for example the loss of the Ocean Ranger in a raging winter storm on the 15 of February 1982. What did the Newfoundlanders on the Ocean Ranger do? They hopped off the rig into the ocean and then gave in to hypothermia or drowned. Not a survivor amongst the lot. Of course the British, and American rig workers also drowned and died of hypothermia. But that was just bad luck — wrong place wrong time for those people.

From time to time some Newfoundlanders fell into the water and did manage to save themselves but they were an exception. For example, five or six years ago a man from the South coast of Newfoundland found himself in the water after the tug boat he was working on sank — in just a couple of minutes — just before Christmas off the coast of Labrador. He was the only survivor. He managed to swim ashore in about an hour. The only reason he survived at all was because he found a trappers cabin near the shore. The cabin had a stove, wood, and some food. It was pure luck that he survived, he didn’t have a thing to do with it apart from his little December swim to land. And even then the only reason he managed to get to shore was because he was thinking about his little children and his wife. He said this himself in an interview. So he had a little incentive. Also he didn’t build the cabin, he didn’t gather the food, or put the matches in the cabin, all he had to do was light the stove and wait in comfort for someone to come and rescue him.

Yes, one thing is certain, Stephen Harper has it right; Newfoundlanders have a real culture of defeat.