Terra Nova Irridenta

When last Tom Careen was heard from, he was spouting the old Newfoundland-nationalist canard that "Canada" was only ever interested in Newfoundland for Labrador.

He's outdone himself.

In a letter in Saturday's Telegram, briefly revisits his Labrador theme, but continues his territorial imperative in its northward march:

Our offshore, comprising five coasts, should have been enough to keep him or anyone busy. (If we had the guts and foresight, there is a sixth — the coast of Baffin Island on Davis Strait and Baffin Bay.)

Shades of Joey Smallwood — "If we are not big enough, if we are not daring enough to colonize Labrador, then somebody else will, and we won’t deserve to own it" — except that, in fairness to Joey, he at least confined his irredentism to territory which was actually under his government's jurisdiction.

For those who are a little rusty with their Arctic geography, let this map serve as a refresher (click to enlarge):

What would Nunavummiut think of Mr. Careen's "sixth coast" proposition?

And do the people of the Azores, Bermuda, or Iceland, which are as "close" to Placentia as Baffin Bay, now have to worry about becoming the seventh, eighth, and ninth coasts in his strange irredentist universe?