Editing Stompin' Tom Connors (section)

===Retirement and nationalist protest===
As the 1970s progressed, he retired to his farm at Ballinafad,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stompin' Tom Moves In|first=Winifred |last=Smith |url=http://news.haltonhills.halinet.on.ca/2315505/page/12?n=14&q=Stompin%27%20Tom%20Connors&docid=OOI.2315505|work=[[The Georgetown Herald]]|date=June 4, 1975|access-date=March 8, 2013}}</ref> near [[Erin, Ontario]], to protest the lack of support given to Canadian stories by the policies of the Federal government, particularly the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC).<ref>{{Cite web|author=Jennifer Barr|title=Stompin' Tom media critic champions Canadian talent|url=http://news.haltonhills.halinet.on.ca/2314036/page/5?n=7&q=Stompin%27%20Tom%20Connors&docid=OOI.2314036|work=Acton Free Press|date=January 19, 1977|access-date=March 7, 2013}}</ref> He also boycotted the [[Juno Award]]s in protest of the qualification guidelines set by the [[Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]] (CARAS) for possible nominees who were being consistently nominated and awarded outside of their musical genre. He strongly opposed artists who conducted most of their business in the United States being nominated for Junos in Canada. Connors, who referred to these particular artists as "turncoat Canadians", felt that, since they had chosen to live and work in the U.S., it was only fair that they competed with Americans for Grammy Awards, and left the Juno competition to those who lived and conducted business in Canada.

His protest caught national attention when he sent back his six Junos accompanied by a letter to the board of directors.

{{Blockquote|Gentlemen:

I am returning herewith the six Juno awards that I once felt honoured to have received and which, I am no longer proud to have in my possession. As far as I am concerned you can give them to the border jumpers who didn't receive an award this year and maybe you can have them presented by [[Charley Pride]]. I feel that the Junos should be for people who are living in Canada, whose main base of business operations is in Canada, who are working toward the recognition of Canadian talent in this country and who are trying to further the export of such talent from this country to the world with a view to proudly showing off what this country can contribute to the world market.

Until the academy appears to comply more closely with aspirations of this kind, I will no longer stand for any nominations, nor will I accept any award given.

Yours very truly,
Stompin' Tom Connors<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Stompin' Tom discloses reasons for Juno nomination withdrawal|url=http://www.stompintom.com/stompintomtimes/rpm.html|magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|date=April 22, 1978|access-date=March 8, 2013}}</ref>
}}

He remained in retirement for 12 years, only returning to the studio in 1986 to produce a new album to promote Canadian artists.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stompin' Tom is back from 10-year exile|url=http://news.haltonhills.halinet.on.ca/2326051/page/1?n=6&q=Stompin%27%20Tom%20Connors&docid=OOI.2326051|work=[[The Georgetown Herald]]|date=December 10, 1986|access-date=March 7, 2013}}</ref> That year, [[Tim Vesely]] and [[Dave Bidini]] of [[Rheostatics]] crashed his 50th birthday party and published an article about it in a Toronto newspaper,<ref name=blamecanada>[http://exclaim.ca/Features/Timeline/rheostatics-blame_canada "Rheostatics: Blame Canada"]. ''[[Exclaim!]]'', November 2001.</ref> initiating a resurgence of public and record label interest in his work which resulted in the release in 1988 of ''Fiddle and Song'', his first new album since 1977.