John,
Thanks.....Newfoundland does have an interesting history.
My favourite Aunt married a man from a remote fishing outport in the early 1950's. You are quite right…..as I heard first hand... Newfoundlanders generally felt much closer to Britain…..going back over hundreds of years. The Newfoundland dialect still has many distinct words from the ancient fishing ports of Devon and Cornwall.
The vote to join Confederation was very divisive. But you have to remember …...now that the natives would no longer work for nothing... Britain was busy divesting itself of its colonies all over the world..…And so was more than happy to "lumber" Canada with the cost and responsibility.
Canada wanted to expand…Britian wanted to get rid of a non-performing asset…So the deal was struck.
And to be honest …the colossal ineptitude of the far-off government in Ottawa in destroying the Newfoundland fishery…still has many thinking they voted the wrong way…