The Future (of Fishing) is Female

Women have been the backbone of the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery for centuries. Earning that recognition is reshaping the maritime world.
Women have been the backbone of the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery for centuries. Earning that recognition is reshaping the maritime world.
We're rolling coverage from the March 10th Committee of the Whole meeting, and the last two Council meetings, into one
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the lack of political debate on the future of the offshore means the body politic is
Changing climates and municipal regulations may have unpredictable effects on the island’s black bear—also known as 'dump bear'—population.
The findings and recommendations of the MMIWG Report may be dismissed, but its charge of genocide cannot be ignored.
Is corporate concentration a central part of the province’s long-term strategy for the fishery? How does that benefit Newfoundlanders and
There was something weird spotted in the sky above Main Brook on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula in January 2020.
“We just started last week. I feel like this is the beginning of something.”
This election is a referendum on Newfoundland and Labrador’s political class, and the status quo is losing. All we’re missing is a way to vote “no.”
Lake Melville is being watched closely by all three major political parties, who see potential opportunity against independent incumbent Perry
The debates are a significant milestone in the 2021 campaign.
Voters do not have the ability to give properly informed consent so far in the 2021 election. That's a major
The 2019 Newfoundland and Labrador general election is a very strange beast. The province finds itself in the throes of existential crisis at the same as it is mired in a full-blown political depression. Nominations have finally closed for all parties, but only the governing Liberals are running a full slate of 40 candidates. The Tories are a close second with 39, while the NDP trail a distant third with 14 candidates. There are nine people running unaffiliated. As far as provincial politics goes, you could be forgiven for feeling like things are starting to circle the drain. But then there is the other weird feature of the 2019 NL election: there is a new option on the ballot. In November 2018, former NL Progressive Conservative party president Graydon Pelley announced that he was resigning from the Tories to form a new entity called the NL Alliance. The Alliance is,…
Not only was Trimper not invited to join Premier Furey in his own district, but he wasn't even informed that
Newfoundland and Labrador has finally delivered its long-awaited 2020 budget. The key takeaway: watch this space for Budget 2021.
The truth is even simpler than it was last year. The province, despite seven years of austerity, is even closer
Well, the provincial election is finally here. After months of rumours and weeks of high-volume spending announcements, Premier Dwight Ball this week called a snap election for 16 May 2019. If your democratic morale is low, fear not—this will all be mercifully over by May Two-Four, so we’ll be able to flee into the woods and get drunk to process what’s happening. Lord knows it will be necessary. To be honest, this barely even feels real. The whole campaign is already a giant fever dream. Twirling Towards the Future Even though everything is happening according to their schedule, it’s hard to avoid the impression that the Liberals are flying through this by the seat of their pants. They spent the last month making major funding announcements obviously meant to shock and awe the electorate into submission. We got the $2.5 billion Hibernia Dividend; we got the elimination of tax on…
Lake Melville is being watched closely by all three major political parties, who see potential opportunity against independent incumbent Perry
The debates are a significant milestone in the 2021 campaign.
Voters do not have the ability to give properly informed consent so far in the 2021 election. That's a major
Every history, so they say, is a history of the present. The past is brutally unchanging, but what flares up through its wreckage to the observer hinges on the moment they turn to look back. (“The way to see,” according to one French mystic, “is to not always be looking.”) This is especially true in the case of historical ruptures that never quite get stitched up, or those regularly reopened under political strain. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Confederation with Canada in 1949 certainly fits this bill. Confederation was legendary in its own time, thanks to both the propagandist in the Premier’s chair and the romantic reaction he generated. As it recedes from living memory its mythic stature will only grow. You need only see Joe Smallwood, ‘Last Father of Confederation’, decked out in a Newfie Republican tricolour bowtie to realize we regard our past through a thickening stained-glass windowpane. It’s been…
All of us here in Newfoundland and Labrador need to push our provincial leaders to kick their bad habit of
Is corporate concentration a central part of the province’s long-term strategy for the fishery? How does that benefit Newfoundlanders and
There was something weird spotted in the sky above Main Brook on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula in January 2020.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Transportation, Culture, Industry and Innovation Minister Christopher Mitchelmore loves the arts. He is very excited about all the wonderful work being produced in this province by its artists, and he cannot wait to share their stories with the world. This is wonderful. Unfortunately, Minister Mitchelmore seems to have some trouble listening to stories from local artists when they’re directed at him. Spearheaded by playwright Robert Chafe and director Courtney Brown, local artists last week organized a letter-writing campaign to the provincial government looking for an increase in funding to ArtsNL. “[ArtsNL is] the only pot of funding, really, that exists in the province [and] that goes directly to working artists to start the product that will actually fill the theatre, fill the CDs, fill the film halls, that kind of thing,” Chafe told the CBC. “The cultural programming in the province wouldn’t exist without it.” ArtsNL funding…
More than five hundred full-time jobs were created by the Newfoundland and Labrador film and television industry in 2019 and
“Watching students try for the first time is truly awesome. When they try music, love it, and want to keep
Is corporate concentration a central part of the province’s long-term strategy for the fishery? How does that benefit Newfoundlanders and
Question Period is like a soap opera, except about politics and with terrible pacing. Old storylines are picked up wherever they left off while new, meandering subplots bubble up all the time. All the actors in the show have tangled, weirdly passionate interconnections that sometimes go back decades. But the script is badly written and all the drama is exaggerated beyond any resemblance to a reality most people would recognize. Prolonged exposure seems hazardous to human mental health, and I worry the surrealist funeral parlour lighting in the scrum room might trigger an acid flashback. Outside of the actual content of the House of Assembly, though, it has been a tremendous first two weeks at the House of Assembly. My colleagues in the press gallery are all lovely. I am deeply humbled to be part of that small cadre charged with checking on the stewards of the state. This job…
Lake Melville is being watched closely by all three major political parties, who see potential opportunity against independent incumbent Perry
Voters do not have the ability to give properly informed consent so far in the 2021 election. That's a major
Not only was Trimper not invited to join Premier Furey in his own district, but he wasn't even informed that
This past weekend, St. John’s was graced by the first federal political rally of our long pre-election season. People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier was in town to help his fledgling riding associations dig up candidates, and he headlined a rally at the Capital Hotel on Saturday. The Independent was there to cover it. Dozens of men and some women turned out to hear the renegade ex-Conservative go off about the perils of Canada’s dairy regulations, the “crony capitalism” at the heart of Trudeau’s “socialist” government, and the sinister ambitions of the United Nations. (Spoiler: world domination in approximately 30 years.) Bernier promised to balance the budget in two years by eliminating all corporate welfare and foreign aid, as well as downloading taxes onto provincial governments. He also swore to use section 92(10) of the Constitution Act, 1867 to “impose” the Trans-Mountain and Energy East pipelines on Canada. He…
Is corporate concentration a central part of the province’s long-term strategy for the fishery? How does that benefit Newfoundlanders and
There was something weird spotted in the sky above Main Brook on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula in January 2020.
“We just started last week. I feel like this is the beginning of something.”
To those who do not know the world is on fire, I have nothing to say. – Bertolt Brecht Here at the Independent, the engines are being plugged in and warmed up. Soon they will thrum with paid (!!) content from the country’s finest writers, about everything that matters in Newfoundland and Labrador. In the meantime, it’s more or less just me. The Indy’s still in drydock at the moment, but I wanted to say a few words about the political forecast before we really take this thing out to sea. It’s barely three weeks into 2019 but it already feels like forever—and I’m not just talking about the weather. We are living in historic times. This much seems obvious if you are following America’s slow-motion implosion, or the post-imperial nervous breakdown called Brexit. Or the Gilets Jaunes roiling France, or the simmering trade and diplomatic wars with China, or the wildfires…
Ryan Cleary’s problem isn’t that he has no political principles. It’s that he’s principled to the point of pathology.
When a problem comes along, must you whip it? Four outspoken Canadian politicians are questioning parliamentary party discipline at Memorial
Is there a progressive answer to how Newfoundland & Labrador's debt could be managed while avoiding crippling austerity?
The 2019 NL provincial election is just eight days away, and yesterday marks three years since the #NLRising rally on
The NDP victory in last week’s Alberta election shook that province and the country. But what does it mean for the federal NDP and the NL NDP here as we approach federal and provincial elections in the fall?
Thanks to the patriotic resistence in Alberta, we obtained a top-secret planning guide used by the Western Separatist movement. They've
The reason Jason Kenney is in Ontario on the federal campaign trail is because he is here for a good
There’s more to us than cowboys and crude oil. Did you know the Caeser was invented in Calgary? We also
What the rushed passage of controversial Bill 42 reveals about our leading political parties, their understanding of legislative reform and their propensity for anti-democratic decision-making
The 2021 provincial election is over. It is time to start the work of repairing what has been broken, or
This is a referendum on negotiating debt relief with the federal government. Your only choice is how much leeway to
So-called parachute candidates can be controversial, but they can also serve important functions—and even strengthen democracy.
It’s been deferred for months but a straggling NDP finally gets a chance for renewal. But will it be enough?
Lake Melville is being watched closely by all three major political parties, who see potential opportunity against independent incumbent Perry
Voters do not have the ability to give properly informed consent so far in the 2021 election. That's a major
Is there a progressive answer to how Newfoundland & Labrador's debt could be managed while avoiding crippling austerity?
Premier Paul Davis’ recent appointment of Judy Manning as Minister of Public Safety has sparked a healthy public discussion about parliamentary procedure and the mechanics of our democracy. It has also demonstrated just how little either of those things are actually understood.
Lake Melville is being watched closely by all three major political parties, who see potential opportunity against independent incumbent Perry
This is a referendum on negotiating debt relief with the federal government. Your only choice is how much leeway to
So-called parachute candidates can be controversial, but they can also serve important functions—and even strengthen democracy.
Frank Coleman’s sudden departure is a hot mess for the Tories
In 2010, when Colliers International was listing the Battery Hotel and Suites for $15 million, they dared buyers to imagine
"It’s very difficult for some people to recognize that we all have a master, and we all have a slave.
Is there a progressive answer to how Newfoundland & Labrador's debt could be managed while avoiding crippling austerity?
It may have been a close race, but the Virgina Waters by-election win is momentous for the provincial Liberals
In 2010, when Colliers International was listing the Battery Hotel and Suites for $15 million, they dared buyers to imagine
Is there a progressive answer to how Newfoundland & Labrador's debt could be managed while avoiding crippling austerity?
I’m beginning to think the patient is better off living in his fantasy. After I hear about New Year's 2018
#DarkNL did Kathy Dunderdale in, but the lights are still out in the House of Assembly
Is corporate concentration a central part of the province’s long-term strategy for the fishery? How does that benefit Newfoundlanders and
There was something weird spotted in the sky above Main Brook on Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula in January 2020.
“We just started last week. I feel like this is the beginning of something.”