Editing Newfoundland and Labrador (section)

==== The National Convention ====
When prosperity returned with the [[Second World War]], agitation began to end the Commission and reinstate responsible government.<ref>Gene Long, ''Suspended State: Newfoundland Before Canada'' (1999)</ref> Instead, the British government created the [[Newfoundland National Convention|National Convention]] in 1946. Chaired by Judge [[Cyril J. Fox]], the Convention consisted of 45 elected members from across the dominion and was formally tasked with advising on the future of Newfoundland.

Several motions were made by [[Joey Smallwood]] (a convention member who later served as the first provincial [[Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador|premier of Newfoundland]]<ref name=newtois>{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/national.html |title=The Newfoundland National Convention |publisher=Heritage.nf.ca |access-date=December 3, 2010 |archive-date=April 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429044917/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/national.html |url-status=live }}</ref>) to examine joining Canada by sending a delegation to Ottawa.<ref name=newtois/> The first motion was defeated, although the Convention later decided to send delegations to both London and Ottawa to explore alternatives.<ref>Joseph Roberts Smallwood, ''I chose Canada: The Memoirs of the Honourable Joseph R. "Joey" Smallwood'' (1973) p. 256</ref><ref>Richard Gwyn, ''Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary'' (1972)</ref> In January 1948, the National Convention voted against adding the issue of Confederation to the referendum 29 to 16, but the British, who controlled the National Convention and the subsequent referendum, overruled this move.<ref name=Malone>{{cite book |last=Malone |first=Greg |title=Don't Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland's Confederation with Canada |year=2012 |publisher=Alfred A Knopf Canada |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0-307-40133-5}}{{rp|145}}</ref> Those who supported Confederation were extremely disappointed with the recommendations of the National Convention and organized a petition, signed by more than 50,000 Newfoundlanders, demanding that Confederation with Canada be placed before the people in the upcoming referendum. As most historians agree, the British government keenly wanted Confederation on the ballot and ensured its inclusion.<ref>David MacKenzie, Inside the Atlantic Triangle: Canada and the Entrance of Newfoundland into Confederation, 1939–49 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986), 192</ref>