To paraphrase Pierre Trudeau, patriotism is something that we feel in our bones. It is very natural and instinctive for humans to identify with the land and people of their birth. This revelation came to me as I stared out at Conception Bay from my grandparents’ home in community of Carbonear, an hour’s drive outside St. John’s.

On a cold, but sunny Boxing Day I walked down to the bay’s shore and saw the waves crashing up against the barren rocks, staring at a horizon which will see no more land until these waves crash upon the shores of Great Britain, Newfoundland’s first imperial conqueror. On my way to the shore I see an inshore fishing boat, a craft which has been the staple in a lifestyle which has not completely died out, but at the rate the offshore trawlers are taking the snow crab and scallop off the ocean’s floor I fear fishing may soon be only seen by tourists of what Newfoundland looked like in a by-gone era.

I was also in Carbonear on summer vacation in 1992 when federal fisheries minister John Crosbie announced a moratorium on the northern cod fishery, which economically devastated communities like Carbonear and the thousands of small fishing communities all around the island. I have a vivid memory of how dark it was that July day and how the clouds hung down as if they wanted to fall out of the sky. When oil was discovered off our shores, a brighter future didn’t seem very far away.

This feeling of pride for the land and people of Newfoundland and Labrador is what, the premier of my province, Danny Williams, pointed to rhetorically on December 22, as he walked out of talks with the federal government, “for the last time.” From this moment on, I am a Canadian in name, not in heart.

Though the Atlantic Accord talks talks have only appeared to be a small blip on the Canadian radar, they are huge news in Newfoundland and Labrador and could have huge ramifications. These talks are not just between a group of political elites about equalization formulas, the price of oil, or how much revenue we’ll receive after five years; they are about being recognized by a country and a government which treats us as if we don’t even exist. The letters and editorials of fury couldn’t come fast enough from around Canada condemning Danny Williams for taking down the Canadian flag on all provincial buildings.

Going to war with feds draped in the provincial flag is nothing new here in Newfoundland or the rest of Canada for that matter. Newfoundland Prime Minister Robert Bond did it in the early 1900s, Joey Smallwood did it with John Diefenbaker Joey Smallwood did it with John Diefenbaker, Brian Peckford did it with Trudeau and Danny (as he’s affectionately called these days) is doing it with Martin. I did not vote for Williams. I did not like how he threatened draconian measures in legislating public sector workers back on the job and I’m generally very sceptical when rich Newfoundlanders come in on a white horse to save the province’s people from themselves. But on this one, I support Danny.

But my support for Williams has some reservations. I do not like this attitude of “Father knows best,” that Newfoundland politicians take in their dealings with Ottawa. The only way that Newfoundland is ever going to make any headway with the federal government is if, like Quebec, we become masters of our own house. Though some may snicker at the notion of Newfoundland’s seven seats, these could very much benefit either one of the opposition parties and could be a determinant on the size of a minority government.

In order for the Canadian federation to work there has to be a middle ground between the unworkable centralizing federalism of Trudeau and the even more ridiculous decentralization of Brian Mulroney. I believe that it is imperative for the federal government to involve itself in delivering social programs, especially post-secondary education. But I do think that it has to be fair to all provinces and peoples in ensuring that they receive the full benefits of their natural resources.

But if we do get 100 per cent of oil revenues it will signal the biggest change to Newfoundland since Confederation. This also worries me because a lot of wealth will be brought into the province, which will fundamentally change the class relationships in our province and could even widen the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. It could also spell the end of rural Newfoundland as people and resources are pulled into St. John’s and its resource draining suburbs.

As always, however, Canadians and their arrogant pundits like Margaret Wente seem to think that Newfoundlanders sponge off the hard-working Chinese and Korean immigrants of Scarborough who shouldn’t have to subsidize “the people who live in Carbonear no matter how quaint and picturesque.” Is this how Newfoundland is thought of in the rest of Canada? As simple ornaments in the Canadian mosaic? Oh look, we’ll throw coins and watch how the stupid Newfies dance, play, and laugh like jesters in the Imperial Court. Or are we viewed as Wente puts it, as “the most vast and scenic welfare ghetto in the world.”

For a long time I was very suspicious of nationalism; when put in the wrong hands it can have deadly results, as the Bush administration has clearly shown. I understand now how Quebec nationalists and First Nations feel. Though some Newfoundlanders will disagree, I think that voting to join Canada in 1949 was the best decision Newfoundlanders ever made. But our role within Confederation has to change and change now, so I will be as Canadian as someone in Truro, Trois Rivières, Toronto or Taber.

So when my colleagues on the political left wish to cluck their tongues in disgust at the United States, I suggest you look a little closer to home, my home. I’m sick and tired of hearing about this notion of a Canadian nation. There’s no such thing. How can you possibly identify yourself as being Canadian, when it defines itself as being the opposite of an American. This notion of “True Patriot Love” is a joke because it is used to sell Tim Horton’s coffee and Molson Canadian beer.

But in this very uncertain world, I take great comfort in the pride I feel for Newfoundland. Canadian intellectuals can all wax well into the night as to how Canadians are not Americans. I, however, will take pride in what Newfoundland is — its culture, its language, its music, its history, its food, and especially its sense of humour which it needs more than ever, right now.