Some Day the Sun Will Shine and Have Not Will Be No More

Brian Peckford

Description

“Some day the sun will shine and have not will be no more.” These are the immortal words of Brian Peckford, who served as the third premier of Newfoundland, and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party from 1979 until his retirement in 1989. As one of Newfoundland’s most committed and combative leaders, Mr. Peckford’s clashes with the federal government—to wrest control of the province’s natural resources—resulted in the groundbreaking Atlantic Accord of 1985, his greatest political triumph during the province’s struggle for self-reliance in a post-Confederation era. This memoir begins with Mr. Peckford’s formative years growing up in outport Newfoundland. It gives all due praise to personal heroes of his, from the seasoned fishermen of La Poile and Pilley’s Island to experienced politicos such as Minister William Marshall and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The past, present, and his vision for the future of Newfoundland and Labrador are revealed here, as well as his insights on Constitution-making and the varicoloured political careers of juggernauts like Joey Smallwood, John Crosbie, and René Lévesque.

Informations

• Publié par: Flanker Press
• Date de parution: 10 septembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781771170253
• Langue: English

Extrait

“If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must employ methods never before attempted.”
— Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626)

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Peckford, A. Brian
Some day the sun will shine and have not will be no more / Brian Peckford.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic monograph.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 978-1-77117-025-3 (EPUB).--ISBN 978-1-77117-026-0 (Kindle).--
ISBN 978-1-77117-027-7 (PDF)

1. Peckford, A. Brian. 2. Premiers (Canada)--Newfoundland and Labrador--Biography. 3. Newfoundland and Labrador--Politics and government--1972-1989. 4. Newfoundland and Labrador--History--1949-. 5. Federal-provincial relations--Canada. 6. Canada--History--20th century. I. Title.

FC2176.1.P43A3 2012  971.8’04092  C2012-905010-5

© 2012 by Brian Peckford

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED . No part of the work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without the written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed to Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 1 Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, ON M5E 1E5. This applies to classroom use as well.


Cover Design: Adam Freake Edited by Erika Steeves


F LANKER P RESS L TD . PO B OX  2522, S TATION C S T . J OHN ’ S , NL C ANADA
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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities; the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $24.3 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada; the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.
I dedicate this book to all those Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who remained steadfast against difficult odds so that we were able to achieve our goal.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The title is taken from a line in a speech I gave, which of course is quoted in the book. The actual wording was, “One day the sun will shine and have not will be no more.” Although this book is based on my life, a fifty-year-old memory, while good, may tend to spice a little for effect.
P R E FA C E
FOR MANY YEARS NOW I have been planning to write this book. The stories, events, and people have been rolling over in my mind on almost a daily basis.
When I began writing about my experiences as a social worker in rural parts of the province, I discovered the most unusual thing. It happened one afternoon when I had begun the exercise. I was writing away in what I thought was a third-person account of these experiences. I stopped for a moment, and when I looked at what I had written, I was shocked. I had been writing in the first-person, complete with dialogue, without my knowing it. And there were pages and pages of it. I could not believe that I had just written that material!
I am sure there are those who would say that these short stories are fodder for another book. For me, they must be in this book since it is only through such stories that I think one has the opportunity to realize why I was so passionate about our place. I was lucky to experience both the older way of the early fifties as a boy and then to see it repeated later in northern Newfoundland and southern Labrador as a university student before the roads, electricity, and jukeboxes came to be, and then to experience the transition as it began, and simultaneously to have been a part of the “new” in Lewisporte and St. John’s.
These experiences as a student have had a profound effect upon me. I remember my first political adventure, not counting high school and university. I decided to run for the presidency of the Green Bay Liberal Association at the last minute, and against the person who was being supported by Premier Smallwood, who was also in attendance at the meeting. In this, my first political speech (discounting the school and university politics), I remember using the experiences of my student days to describe my understanding of the province and hence why I was qualified to run for the office. Of course, it also signalled that from the start I was anything but an insider. And during my political career I always seemed most at home when I was in rural parts: yes, asking for a vote, but being impacted by what I saw and heard, especially the resilience and tolerance of the people. These experiences seem photographed in my mind and are an integral part of my sensibility.
It is really not the story of one person, but through one person the lives of many who thought like me and fervently desired to see a more prosperous place and our history respected.
The process by which we were able to help to effect this change was anything but smooth. Of course, there were moments of joy, but most were a struggle and often it looked impossible.
I am sure there are those who would argue that I overemphasize Newfoundland’s struggles. Well, my life seems to replicate that view, both my own early experiences and those in public life. I make no apologies.
Better times have arrived, and let us hope that we have learned from distant and recent history. I still hold out the hope that, now, through these better times, we can address our fishery, achieve more influence, and see a revitalized rural Newfoundland.
CHAPTER 1: BEGINNINGS
“Being grown up is not half as much fun as growing up.”
— Anonymous


BESSIE R LEFT BAY Bulls with a cargo of salt for Port aux Basques and intended to load a cargo of fish at the latter port. It arrived in Fermeuse on the Southern Shore on Sunday, February 17, 1918, and its master, Sandy Thistle, fully expected to harbour at Trepassey that night. However, once out and en route, the fickle forces of nature took command.
Thistle had an experienced crew; most like himself belonged to Hickman’s Harbour on Random Island: Mate Joseph T. Blundon (or Blundel) and Levi Benson. Cook John Anderson lived in British Harbour, but he later moved to Britannia on Random Island. W. J. Peddle hailed from Little Heart’s Ease and Lewis Rice from Bay Bulls. Joseph Peckford, a well-known citizen of St. John’s, was supercargo on the schooner. As supercargo he would have managed the business transactions of the Bessie R , whose main work seems to have been trading fish and supplies along the coast.
The skills of Thistle’s crew were soon to be tried, for the schooner ran headlong into a snowstorm with southeast winds. Within hours this swung around to a gale from the northwest—the worst winds for sail-driven vessels off southeastern Newfoundland. For twenty-four hours Bessie R was pushed to sea, and during the gale the jumbo boom broke off. The log—towed on its line behind the ship, which would give some indication of speed and distance—broke and Captain Thistle had no idea how far his schooner had drifted off.
Slowly he and his crew worked the vessel back to within sight of land, perhaps somewhere on the east side of St. Mary’s Bay. Thistle figured this was the general area, but Bessie R was near a rock called by local folks The Bull. Thistle didn’t recognize it at the time, but he realized he needed to keep his schooner out to sea. Despite the best intentions of his crew, contrary winds pushed Bessie R near Holyrood Arm and there was no way to swing the schooner around to get out. The vessel made its last-ditch standoff the town of Point LaHayse, or as it is known today, Point La Haye.
Meanwhile, the residents of Point La Haye had gathered on a headland and were watching the valiant efforts of the six seamen. When Bessie R sailed in, they ran to the beach to help if they could. At first it seemed as if it would ground and break up offshore. There seemed to be no recourse but disaster and death. One account of the wreck says, “The people on the shore never thought that any of the crew would reach the shore alive, and they gathered on the beach praying for their safety.”
But Captain Thistle drove Bessie R right up on the beach and the crew were able to jump off from the bowsprit to the shore, much to the amazement of Point La Haye residents. Joseph Peckford sustained the only injury. During the two or three days of fighting the storm, Peckford had taken his turn at the wheel and bent over to examine the compass. The main boom swung, hitting him in the middle of the back, and his chest struck the wheel with considerable force. One of the wheel spokes injured his chest.
Despite their close call and two or three days of exciting and anxious hardships, the crew, all but businessman Peckford, went about their life work on the sea. They found employment at Harbour Grace and went there to join the schooner Henry L. Montague for another stint on the ocean.
This was not the last word on the wreck of Bessie R . Apparently one man was so impressed with the self-rescue of the hardy seamen, he wrote an unsigned letter to the St. John’s newspaper Evening Advocate dated March 11, 1918. The heading says, “Nothing Can Daunt Our Brave Seamen.”

Dear Sir:

Please allow me space to say a few words about the loss of Bessie R at