why is joey smallwood important?

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Joseph Roberts “Joey” Smallwood, PC , CC (December 24, 1900 – December 18, 1991) was the main force that brought Newfoundland into Confederation, and became the first Premier of the province. Smallwood remains a controversial figure in Newfoundland, both for his role in ending its independent status and his acts while serving as its premier. He would dub himself “the last Father of Confederation.”

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. he returned to Newfoundland in 1925, where he soon met and married Clara Oates. In 1926 he founded a newspaper of his own in Corner Brook.

In 1928 he acted as campaign manager for the Prime Minister of the Dominion, Sir Richard Squires. He also ran as a Liberal candidate in Bonavista in 1932, but lost the election. 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.

In 1946 he was elected a delegate to the Newfoundland National Convention, which was organized to make recommendations to the British government about the constitutional future of Newfoundland which would be placed before the people of the country in a constitutional referendum. Smallwood supported joining Canada, arguing that union with Canada would bring economic prosperity. He founded and led the Confederate Association that supported the Confederation option in the Convention during the 1948 Newfoundland referendums. He was also a member of the 1947 delegation that travelled to Ottawa to discuss union and 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. He 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 A bust of Joey Smallwood on display at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Smallwood, during career as premier, would be accused of being autocratic and self-aggrandizing. Because the entry into Confederation brought many grants to the province, Smallwood effectively controlled the financial situation of many islanders. He would bring many 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 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 relied heavily on the expertise of German industry in his repeated failed attempts to industrialize Newfoundland in the post confederation period. Leading the effort was Latvian expatriate Alfred Valdmanis, who was appointed Director-General of Economic Development in 1950 with the expectation that he would attract German and Baltic industrialists to the island. Valdmanis was dismissed in 1954 when he was charged with defrauding the government, for which he would spend two years in prison.

Smallwood remained premier until 1972, and remained a member of the House of Assembly until 1977. After resigning from politics he launched and was editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, publishing the first two volumes in 1981 and 1984. He died in 1991, before the entire Encyclopedia was published.

In 1974, Smallwood, in conjunction with radio and television owner Geoff Stirling and Australian director Michael Rubbo, participated in a film project documenting Smallwood’s invitation to visit Fidel Castro in Cuba. The resulting film, Waiting for Fidel, provided a glimpse into the Cuba of the day, as well as a more intimate expression of Smallwood’s personal perspective.[1]

In 1986 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. A Marine Atlantic ferry, the M/V Joseph and Clara Smallwood honours Newfoundland and Labrador’s most prominent political family.

Smallwood is buried, along with his wife, Clara, at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. John’s, Newfoundland.