Autonomoney! (IV)

The ultimate symbol of Newfoundland and Newfoundland's history as a once, and in some eyes, future independent country, gets a makeover — complete with a false-alarm frisson of excitement, that maybe, just maybe, Secret Nation was a documentary after all:

While in the attic, French notes that during the ceiling stabilization, workers discovered old ballots.

There was an "Oh my God moment. - '1949 maybe we shouldn't have been in Confederation' " as thoughts turned to the 1948 referendum voting and a conspiracy theory about missing ballots.

But the bundled and wax sealed ballots turned out to be about prohibition (of alcohol) in the 1880s. The ballots were turned over to The Rooms.

Of course, if 1949 maybe we shouldn't have been in Confederation, the foreign country of Canada wouldn't be kicking in upwards of $750,000 for a pet project by a government that desires — or is that desired? — financial autonomy vis-à-vis Ottawa.