The following commentary was aired on CBC Radio’s Dec. 17 th Fisheries Broadcast by Gus Etchegary, who, at the age of 86, has more passion and drive than most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians half his age. I’m currently working on a book with Mr. Etchegary — The Rise and Fall of the Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries . ••• Those who have been involved in the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries — especially since the moratorium of the early 1990s — will be painfully aware of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ almost total abandonment of its responsibilities regarding management of our vital groundfish fisheries. Documented evidence shows groundfish stocks in Norway, Iceland, Alaska and other fishing nations have been managed and conserved to a very healthy state, providing employment and good incomes to harvesters and processing personnel and contributing to their national economies. A good example is the healthy state of cod, haddock and caplin fisheries in the Barents ...

The following letter is p ublished in today's (Dec. 13th, 2010) Telegram: On reasons and Williams The questions remain: why did Danny Williams quit, and is he more popular than the two Js (Jesus and John Lennon) combined? The consensus around the hockey rink, that great Newfoundland microcosm, is that archenemy Craig Westcott pushed Williams over the edge, the final prick to the then-premier’s balloon-thin skin. Williams could no more handle a jab than he could blow fish kisses to Fabian Manning across a crowded auditorium, and there’s no question that Williams, near the end, had reached the breaking point. Less than three weeks prior to his Nov. 25 resignation, Williams “roared” at his rivals and the media during the annual premier’s dinner, according to a Globe and Mail headline. Williams said he expected the months leading up to the October 2011 provincial election would be the lowest kind of “gutter” politics, and he obviously had had enough. He ripped into Westcott fo...

Inspired by Come Together , Geoff Stirling (seated at right) and his son Scott Stirling (seated at left), had a "profound" encounter in 1969 at a London studio with Yoko Ono and John Lennon, who was killed 30 years ago today (Dec. 8th, 2010). Come Together was a Lennon number that supposedly began life as the campaign song for acid-guru Timothy Leary's intended run against Ronald Reagan for governor of California. The song mesmerized Geoff and Scott, a Lennon fan. From the Londonderry Hotel, where the two were staying on vacation, Stirling telexed a note to Lennon. It said: "I've heard your Come Together . So here I am. Geoff Stirling." A few hours later, they were seated in Apple Studios, recording the first in a string of interviews with Lennon that Stirling would later broadcast on his Canadian radio stations. "I look back on that first interview and I realize how profound it was," Scott told Report on Business magazine in December 2004. "...

I was asked by a national publication on Nov. 25 th , the day Premier Danny Williams resigned, to gather reaction from here on the ground in Newfoundland and Labrador. The publication did not publish the reaction, so I’m posting it here. “All those years of saying we have to thank Ottawa for this and that made us feel as if we exchanged one colonial master for another. Danny Williams’ greatest contribution, in my opinion, was destroying once and for all the Uncle Ottawa syndrome. He succeeded in making us feel proud of ourselves.” — James McGrath, former lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland and Labrador and one-time federal PC cabinet minister. ••• “One good thing about Danny going is we’ll get rid of the unhealthy occult political following that he’s had.” — Bill Rowe, call-in radio show host and author of the 2010 book, Danny Williams: The War with Ottawa . ••• “He wasn’t a demigod. He wasn’t a savior. He was a tough guy who was obviously successful in business and who knew hi...

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from December, 2005 Independent newspapers: Dec. 4-10 “Beamed Smallwood: ‘Glory, hallelujah; praise God from whom all blessings flow!’ The $1.1-billion Churchill Falls project, he prophesied, would make Newfoundland ‘the most industrialized province in Canada.’” — Time Canada , Oct. 14, 1966. (Republished in The Independent .) Dec. 11-17 “Going to see Revue is like putting on a Christmas concert when all the family is home.” — Donna Butt, director of Revue ’05. Dec. 18-24 “The other thing about canvassing, I don’t want to be the one standing at the door when people have their doors wide open, letting the heat out — not when they’re paying a fortune.” — Nancy Riche of the NDP. Dec. 25-31 “Hockey Day in Canada has probably surpassed discussions about Santa Claus.” — Stephenville councilor Darren Roberts on CBC hosting its sixth annual event there on Jan. 7 th , 2006. ••• Quotes of the week from December, 2006 Independent ne...

I wish to advise the constituents of St. John’s South-Mount Pearl that, effective Oct. 27th, I resigned as NDP candidate for the federal riding, and as a member of the party — severing all affiliation. I’ve written several articles in recent months for publication and hope to write more, which creates a professional conflict. You cannot be a politician and a journalist — it’s one or the other. I’ve chosen to return to journalism, my profession of almost 20 years. I would like to say a sincere thank you to the people who have supported me politically. It’s been a humbling and eye-opening experience, and my passion and drive will continue to be directed towards the betterment of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Blasts from NL’s past “In retrospect, there’s no doubt that the Upper Churchill development should have been carried out without Brinco. It should have been carried out by a joint venture of the provinces of Newfoundland and Quebec, with the proceeds being shared equally between the two provinces. We now know this precise proposal was made to Joey Smallwood by René Lévesque, then Quebec’s Energy minister. It was cavalierly dismissed by Smallwood because of his relationship with Brinco and those who had formed Brinco. We now know, thanks to Fabian O’Dea’s royal commission into the Newfoundland liquor-lease scandal, that Smallwood was speculating in Brinco stock during the period he was negotiating the Churchill Falls agreement. We have no way of knowing how his conflict of interest may have influenced him in the negotiations. But we do know that he violated the trust of the Newfoundland people.” — John Crosbie, as quoted in his 1997 book, No Holds Barred, My Life in Politics. ••• “...

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from October, 2006 Independent newspapers: “We stepped in in 1992 to help out, but we have no need to invest in this kind of project. We’re in the business of taxation and spending those taxes to benefit Canadian citizens.” — Then-federal Liberal Natural Resources critic Roy Cullen on the federal government’s stake in Hibernia. ••• “I don’t know if he ever asked for a loan so much as he invited the banks to participate in the honour of being in the service of Craig Dobbin.” — Harry Steele in a eulogy to his friend. ••• “It’s no spot to try and cheat on your husband.” — Principal Brenda Roberts on life in Black Tickle, Labrador. ••• “If I was a Newfoundlander and I had $5 billion, why wouldn’t I have bought the North Atlantic refinery? … I think if I had the money I would have bought North Atlantic and I would have expanded it.” — Analyst Bill Simpkins.

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from October, 2005 Independent newspapers: “We’re saying, what are the issues now that are important? Renegotiation of the upper Churchill, which everybody has written off as impossible, you’ve got to shame them into it. It has to be shown and repeated and repeated. This is why The Independent is playing an important role in this movie.” — Geoff Stirling, a Newfoundland tycoon (owner of the NTV/OZFM/ Herald empire). ••• “I’ve seen cases where people were in court fighting over the plastic flower pots in the back yard.” — Lawyer Bob Buckingham on the money couples can spend on divorce proceedings. ••• “My modest objective? … to hear before I die, not jokes, but people demanding of their politicians in a variety of settings around the world: ‘Why can’t we be more like Newfoundland.’” — Cabot Martin, writer, entrepeneur and one-time Peckford advisor. ••• “The company cares more for the beef than they do the human being because if a ...

52 years ago today ... "As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you're trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I'd like to work for you." — Hunter S. Thompson in a letter of application to the Vancouver Sun on Oct. 1, 1958 — 52 years ago today. The letter is reprinted in today's Ottawa Citizen .

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “We, the inhabitants of the Town of Carbonear, in the District of Conception Bay, beg to offer to your Excellency our unfeigned congratulations on your safe arrival to these shores, as well as to express the high satisfaction we feel in the wisdom of our most Gracious Sovereign in the selection of a man so conversant with Colonial policy as your Excellency to be our Governor, and we sincerely pray that the political differences now existing in Newfoundland may speedily vanish before your Excellency's administration.—Presented to His Excellency Major-General Sir John Harvey. — The Star and Newfoundland Advocate , St. John’s, Sept. 25 th , 1841.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Her Majesty’s ship Eurydice anchored on Saturday night about 12 o’clock, having on board His Excellency the Governor and his suite, last from the Straits of Belle Isle. During three weeks excursion, His Excellency has visited not only the ports of Ferryland, Burin, Great St. Lawrence, Lamaline and the French Islands on the Western, or what is sometimes called the French shore, and several Ports in the Straits of Belle Isle.” — The Star and Newfoundland Advocate , St. John’s, September 1844.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Dear Sir—It seems strange that so far a cabmen’s shelter had not been erected. Our cabmen and carmen are exposed to all the changes of temperature experienced in this climate. Has it never struck those in authority that it is cruel to make no provision for these men, when by putting up a suitable shelter the whole trouble might be obviated? What wonder is it if they go into the nearest saloon and perhaps become intoxicated, as there is no other place for them to go? Such a state of things should not be. A shelter would not cost a great deal of money and it would be a great benefit. I remain, Yours truly, A White Ribboner.” — The Daily News , St. John’s, September, 1894.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Come on Bell Island, enter the beauty and poise contest, be crowned Queen of the Harbour Grace Fair … put Bell Island on the Teen Age map!” — The Bell Island Reporter , September 1959.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “We beg to remind all persons who feel desirous of securing for themselves before leaving this world, that Mr. Alexander Norris, at St. John’s, has got some very fine Tombstones on sale — they can be had with or without lettering, very low.” — The Carbonear Sentinal , September 1844.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia If you have — been on a trip entertained guests celebrated a birthday married your secretary caught a big fish moved had a baby sold your cows had an operation bought a car painted your house had company been married cut a new tooth died sold out been robbed been shot OR DONE ANYTHING … Telephone or Drop a Postcard, or Come In, or In Any Convenient Way Inform The Echo. — The Echo , September 1967.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Dear Sir—Now that the evenings are beginning to close in early, I think it is high time for some of our public-spirited citizens to get together and see that our streets on this side are properly lighted at night. Quite a number of the men in this locality are mill workers, and their work calls them out in darkness. It should be an easy matter to get a few lights placed on our streets so that the people of this section may be able to move about at night in safety. I have often heard it said that people can get almost any public utility they want when an election is at hand. Your truly, Flashlight.” — Humber Herald , Corner Brook, September, 1928.

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from September, 2007 Independent newspapers: “For a Town wedding, it was a wicked old time.” — Groomsman Troy Halleran, Sept. 7th. ••• “I play the bouzouki, not the bazooka.” — Billy Sutton of The Fables on his performance in Afghanistan, Sept. 14th. ••• “I can stand in the House all I want, I can be honest as I want, I can lend all my education experience to the debate … but you know what? I can never be a man.” — Education Minister Joan Burke, Sept. 21 st . ••• “The ban is gone.” —Speaker Harvey Hodder, on the freedom of MHAs to release constituency allowance claims, Sept. 28 th .

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia "Dear Sir—My heart fairly burns when I think of the unkind thoughts which I have had, on occasions, when I raised the receiver of my telephone and was not answered by the operator on duty with the local Telephone Co. I state this, in prelude to a sort of apology from myself and I feel sure, on behalf of many more, to these operators. I was only led to realize the tremendous amount of work entailed when I viewed a copy of the new Directory, which the Company is presently distributing. Just imagine, to remember all these names and numbers, and be able to recall them on the spur of the moment! It is almost incredible how these humans (they are humans) could do this work with the speed with which they have done it all along. Sincerely yours, ‘Repentence.’” — The Speaker , Bay Roberts, September, 1953.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “We have no intention of allowing ourselves to be subjected to mud slingling or character assassinations. Least of all will we resort to the use of stupid cartoons, and poetic ignorance as a means of increasing our circulation.” — First editorial of the Wabana Star , September 1961.

Quote of note ... “That a sizeable number of people should want (Sarah) Palin for president is irrefutable evidence their (American) society has gone dysfunctional … Paris Hilton would do the job as well, probably better.” — Richard Gwyn in a column published in today’s St. John’s Telegram .

Quotes of the week “The rest of the country and even Quebec itself is finally admitting that it has been getting away with highway robbery in Canada for decades.” — Premier Danny Williams in a Sept. 8th, 2010 address to the St. John’s Board of Trade. Williams accused Quebec officials of hypocrisy and drilled Premier Jean Charest for opposing NL’s attempt to develop the Lower Churchill. ••• “The money was well spent … it’s vital that we protect the most vulnerable people in remote coastal communities who have few other economic options.” — Fisheries Conservation Ambassador Loyola Sullivan, who was among a handful of Canadian bureaucrats who spent $178,000 during a “desperate and ultimately futile attempt” in 2008 and early 2009 to convince the European Union to back off plans to impose a ban on Canadian seal products. Sullivan was said to frequently stay at luxury hotels while shuttling from capital to capital. The EU voted by a 550-49 margin to impose the ban in May 2009. The Montre...

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Berry pickers on the Southside hill should give the rifle range a wide birth. Yesterday several persons were inside the danger mark. No accident happened, but there is no sense in going inside the flags even if the soldiers are not there.” — St. John’s Daily Star , September, 1915.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Kim Lee, the first Chinaman in Newfoundland, came by the Pretonian this morning after a two-year sojourn abroad. He spent seventeen months where he was born at China with his mother and two sisters, and seven months at London. Kim looks smart after his trip and feels glad to be at St. John’s once more.” — The Evening Chronicle , St. John’s, September 1911.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia "All the emphasis appears to be placed on the belief that a change of government can accomplish what is only possible by sound planning and direct action. If, for example, we were a province of Canada, what would that do for our country? Would it improve the competitive position of our fisheries and our newsprint operators? Would it mean a concentration upon the means of procuring as near we can go to full employment in this counry? The point is that it is not what government is that counts, but what it does. And government can only do so much. The rest is up to the enterprise, initiative, energy and understanding of the people.” — Observer’s Weekly , St. John’s, September 1945.

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from September 2005 Independent newspapers “If the shrimp was coming out of Ontario you could rest assured we’d be looking to do something with European wine, but yet because it’s Newfoundland and Labrador shrimp it doesn’t get any attention.” — Premier Danny Williams in advising Ottawa to tackle the European Union shrimp tariff with the same ferocity as the softwood lumber dispute with the United States. Sept. 4 th. ••• “I definitely judge people who move away; I’m a fairly cruel person when it comes to people bailing on Newfoundland.” — Tonya Kearley-Russell, Trinity cartoonist (Baychick). Sept. 11 th . ••• “I’m single, very single. Hopefully that will change and hopefully I’ll improve the social life too.” — Then-Mount Pearl Mayor Steve Kent on his busy schedule. Sept. 18 th . ••• “I would say it was most appropriate. He was a graduate of St. Bon’s.” — Father Vernon Boyd on former Archbishop Alphonsus Penney giving mass at the sc...

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “We do conscientiously believe that if old bachelors were treated with a little more charity; if a sunny smile from an arch blue eye was occasionally directed towards them; if they were greeted with a kind look instead of a frown, and a cordial welcome instead of a cold recognizance and an indifferent toss of the head; if young ladies, taking pity on the forlorn condition of old bachelors, would deem it an act of duty to pet them a little more than they do, many a heart that now resembles the ‘wind and the winter night,’ would be soothed and subdued; many an icicle would be melted; many a withered shrub would be transplanted, and flourish in a warmer clime.” — The Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser , September 1837.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia "While out fishing one day this week at Stone Island, several of the boats crews attention was directed to a large creature in the water undulating very slowly at almost 50 yards from one of the anchored boats. Some observers say it was the size of a puncheon (a plank the height of a tree) and about 150 or 200 feet long. After getting some distance from the boats, the creature reared about the height of a boat's mast 30 or 40 feet out of the water and disappeared. The men could not tell whether it was its head or its tail." — The Evening Herald , Sept. 7, 1909

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Thomson Newspapers Ltd.’s performance in its dispute with the 35 printers and editorial writers at The Evening Telegram is all too typical of outsiders’ contempt for Newfoundlanders. To get the paper out the company flies in 6 to 10 mainland workers — paying for their airfares, meals, hotel bills and rented cars — and replaces them with other mainlanders every two weeks. In its North American operation alone, the company made $56.5 million in profit last year, up $9 million from 1977, but it refused to pay The Telegram printers the same wage earned at Dicks and Company or Robinson-Blackmore — two much smaller companies. The company’s power is vast and its interests reach around the globe, but we can still show them who’s boss. By canceling his or her own subscription each Newfoundlander can force the company to respect us or face the possibility of another newspaper taking over the evening market. Alone against The Telegram , we’re powerle...

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “An editor is a man who is liable to grammatical blunders, tooth-aches, typographical errors, and lapses of memory, and usually he has ninety-thousand people watching to catch him tripping. He is a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief and poverty, and frequently liable to go ragged and dry for a very long period. And yet the woods are full of people who want to be editors.” — The Twillingate Sun , September 1884.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “On Monday last, the wreck of a large boat, newly painted, drove past Cape Spear. The wind had prevailed from the northward for some days before, and the probability is that the boat was coming from one of our northern ports. It is feared that the crew have perished.” — The Conception Bay Man , Harbour Grace, September 1857.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Dear Sir—This problem of education that is facing the people of the surrounding communities today is something that should be considered. It appears to be the first beginning of centralization, to get the children to move first, then the parents will follow. How many people raising a family today, some in their twenties, some in the thirties and forties, and even some like myself in their sixties, would want to sacrifice what they worked a lifetime for and move to some other place where they would not have as much? Well Sir, I can only speak for myself, but my anchor is down and I’ll never leave Bay L’Argent, not even as long as I can see one more home with light in the window by night. Signed, Citizen — Burin Peninsula Post , September 1970

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “Sir—Being a young man working in St. John’s, I have noticed the ugliness of many women in town. These women need an expert ‘Western Bay Beauty Treatment’, which is sure to do something to unclog those dusty pores, brighten up scraggley hair and improve townie faces. First, you need the hair washed and adorned with a perfumed concoction made from codfish and halibut oil. Second, you need a facial bath in salt water taken from Doctor’s Cove in Western Bay. Third, to unclog your pores you need a bath in perfumed urine from young cows. Fourth, to curl your hair, you need bones from the legs of young billy goats. This beauty treatment was passed down to me by my great grandmother and I am sure that all young ladies in St. John’s will be pleased now that I pass it on to them.”— Charles Edwin Slade, Western Bay, C.B., Nfld. — Town Crier , September 1973.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “I hope my time is not run out. I’d never be forgiven nor would you ever forget me if I talked so long that the tide went out and we couldn’t launch the boats.”—Joey Smallwood in a speech at the launch of four new longliners built by the Fogo Island Shipbuilding Producers’ Co-operative. — Fogo Island Profile , September 1969.

SCHRUNCHINS A daily taste of Newfoundlandia “About the first week of last month a curious phenomenon was witnessed on the Labrador. A cloud of flies swooped down from the sky and covered everything around, including the decks of several vessels, while the surface of the water for upwards of seven miles was blackened with them. Shortly after this occurrence, a Meteorite, weighing about eight tons, struck the earth with a resounding crash, sinking a considerable distance into the earth from the terrific force with which it fell.” — The Enterprise , St. John’s. Sept. 4, 1897.

Blasts from NL’s past Quotes of the week from September, 2006 Independent newspapers: “Because of all I’ve discovered, the people I’ve met, and what I see every day in the arts, economy and life here, I know Newfoundland and Labrador is about to enter a phase of bright horizons.” — Reporter Clare-Marie Gosse says good-bye. ••• “One of the things, looking back now, five years later, is the threat of this happening again is still there.” — Gander Mayor Claude Elliot, on the 9/11 terrorist attacks. ••• “We (should) just change the name baby seal to ice rats. People don’t want to club baby seals, but everybody wants to put down ice rats.” — Marh Critch, Independent guest columnist. ••• “Everybody else ended up at the end of a rope, or drowned, or with their big rusty blade in their back. Peter Easton died … with his pot of gold.” — Author Jason Crummey. ••• “I know how well I am doing against my competitors every day of the week. I look at the paper and I will see someone...