(Canadian) MP Backs Lobby For A Sunny 11th Province (Turks & Caicos Islands)

The National Post ^ | July 15, 2003 | Mary Vallis

[Loyalist]

A Canadian Alliance MP wants Canada to investigate the possibility of annexing the idyllic Turks and Caicos Islands.

Peter Goldring, MP for Edmonton Centre-East, has drafted a motion asking the federal government to study the practicality of "a union" that would see the islands adopted as "Canada's 11th province." He plans to introduce it when the House of Commons reconvenes this fall.

Canada has twice rejected the idea of annexing the archipelago in the past 30 years. But Mr. Goldring says it might make sense to reconsider in "this new day and age of international terrorism."

"Maybe it would be good from a secure aspect of having a little piece of Canada in the south that Canadians could travel to with a greater sense of security than some of the other islands that are commonly visited," he said from Edmonton.

Mr. Goldring's interest in Turks and Caicos was sparked in part by several grassroots groups that recently launched campaigns urging Canada to annex a tropical paradise of its own for snowbirds. He also has a niece living on one of the islands and is planning a family vacation there this winter.

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British territory about 900 kilometres southeast of Florida. The islands are famous for pristine sandy beaches, scuba diving and their status as an offshore tax haven.

An ad-hoc group called Canadians for a Tropical Province (cfatp.ca) has been circulating petitions asking the federal government to "officially study and rigorously pursue the notion of annexing an island group" since April.

Two Ottawa men are also organizing support among business leaders and are running a Web site, aplaceinthesun.ca, that encourages Canadians to contact their MP about Turks and Caicos. Richard Pearson, an executive at a mutual fund company and one of the men behind A Place in the Sun, said through the Web site he has been contacted by dozens of people organizing their own lobby efforts, including petitions and letter-writing campaigns. They say Turks and Caicos would be a perfect "sunshine province."

"I applaud Peter for doing this, because finally it's going to get us some attention on Parliament Hill," Mr. Pearson said.

Mr. Goldring has contacted opposition members in Turks and Caicos and says there is "certainly an interest" in exploring closer ties.

"Given their political situation as a territory, it would enhance, I would think, their political standing to be a full member province of a country such as Canada," he said.

In 1974, MP Max Saltsman proposed an unsuccessful private member's bill to annex the islands. Canada revisited the idea in 1987, when a two-member delegation from Turks and Caicos visited Canada courting a deal, but that bid also failed, partly because a 1986 External Affairs study advised against the move.

The study pointed out racial tension between the islands' mostly black population and white tourists could become a concern.

© Copyright 2003 National Post

[MattinNJ]

I was thinking that the U.S should annex Alberta.

[Support Free Republic]

50,000 people go to a baseball game, but the game was rained out. A refund is then due. The team is about to mail refunds when the Congressional Democrats stopps them and decrees that they send out refund amounts based on the Democrat National Committee's interpretation of fairness. After all,if the refunds are made based on the price each person paid for the tickets, most of the money would go to the wealthiest ticket holders. That would be unconscionable!

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[epluribus_2]

would this lead to another Falklands style war but this time between Canada and the UK?

[Mike Darancette]

Can you imagine, islanders forced to put mayonaise on their jerked chicken.

[Don W]

The only reason that the islands in question are interested in joining confederation is the "social safety net" that Canada has. Think about it: we sure need another "have-not" province to siphon off federal tax dollars.

Since the NDP destroyed BC (when Harcourt took over, BC had the strongest economy in the country), only Alberta and Ontario are carrying the water. Do you think these 2 provinces can afford MORE leaving their economies? I thought not.