AH Challenge: An Independent Newfoundland

Wolfpaw

Banned
With a POD after 1900, your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to have Dominion of Newfoundland not join Canada as it did in OTL, but to become an independent country.

Any butterflies this could cause are, of course, welcome!

(For those unfamiliar with Newfoundland's status prior to joining Canada, here's the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_of_Newfoundland)
 
This should be relatively simple. Have a less corrupt Newfie political culture leading up to the 1930s and/or Imperial Preference (so they have some nice big markets), and perhaps you can avoid the ending of responsible government altogether. Alternatively, on the referendum you could just butterfly the vote a little (say, no Catholic rumors) and have the voters end up choosing Dominion status instead of confederation.
 
There have been multiple WIs on this subject already. The simple POD to do would be to avoid Beaumont-Hamel. That part of the Battle of the Somme alone destroyed any chance Newfoundland had for remaining independent. Then again, I'd go for a 19th century POD, but that's me.
 
Better Battle of the Somme and Newfoundland has the manpower to run it's economy for an while thus they won't to join Britain as an colony and then finally Canada as an province. Of course if they find their offshore oil eairler then that's always and plus, or ISOT Danny Williams...
 
Top