Class Act

Is there any occasion which Our Dear Premier can't turn into a pulpit from which to preach his anti-Confederate message? The answer would seem to be "no":

They sent him to St. Andrew’s College where he and his friends from here sang the "Ode to Newfoundland" to mark – reluctantly – the first moments of Confederation for Newfoundland and Labrador. He shared his dad’s preference for an option other than Confederation, and he voiced those convictions in a poem that included, as a rallying cry, the words: "… Up true Newfoundlander! Rise / And fight once more to win proud freedom’s prize!"

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He was instrumental in getting our offshore oil industry off the ground and securing federal financing at a critical juncture. And he was instrumental in securing the initial Atlantic Accord, which recognized and entrenched our right to be the primary beneficiary of our offshore resources, although it was nearly 20 years later when the principle beneficiary concept became reality but then was diminished again by the new Federal Government.

And, oh, the soon-to-be-recognized irony:

Those were thorny times in Newfoundland and Labrador politics, and the new minister soon found himself facing a crisis of conscience. There are those here today who know that he was not alone in facing that crisis or in taking the action that he did.