Stagg Editorial- August 1994

There are signs of revival for the Newfoundland fishing industry. On the social side, fishermen and government are coming to an agreement that the unemployment insurance equivalent payments made by the Federal Government cannot be permanent and cannot be a crutch that enables hardworking men and women to descend into chronic welfare dependence. There is a real lean and hungry look to the Newfoundland worker these days which harkens back to the 1950's and 1960's when Newfoundland workers spread out over, not only Newfoundland and Labrador, but all over the country working hard and building a reputation for hard, intelligent work. Newfoundland workers still have that capacity and now there is once again the steely determination to prove it all over again.

The Newfoundland Provincial Government is doing its part to attract industry to the province. Premier Clyde Wells has announced a significant tax holiday for industries that choose to invest strongly in Newfoundland business. The ten year tax holiday has the common sense signature that Wells has brought to the national political scene since his Meech Lake coming out party. With the nasty teachers' strike behind him, Wells may find that the Newfoundland public service has realized that with Wells they are now getting the same medicine that they received from Premier Frank Moores and Premier Brian Peckford in their respective eras. Newfoundland governments have always managed to triumph over the excessive demands of its white-collared civil servants based on the plain and simple fact that the Newfoundland public is not prepared to indulge those with secure public jobs when others are suffering because of lack of real work.

Newfoundland government and Newfoundlanders are back fishing in the national economy looking to build industry and to rebuild a reputation for strength, intelligence, and honesty in doing a good days work.

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