Nova Scotia votes to invite Turks and Caicos to join it
Friday, April 23, 2004
HALIFAX, Canada: According to CBC News, Nova
Scotia's three political parties voted unanimously Wednesday to invite Turks
and Caicos to join the province, if the Caribbean islands ever become part of
Canada.
Tory backbencher Bill Langille has never
been to the 40-island chain, but he thinks the union is a natural, given
historical trade connections and a sea-going culture.
He introduced the non-binding resolution in
hopes of spurring talks at the federal level.
Prime Minister Paul Martin agreed last month
to meet with Michael Misick, the Turks and Caicos chief minister, to talk
about possibly forming some sort of relationship.
Talks about forming some kind of alliance
were first brought up by Prime Minister Robert Borden in 1917, and have
surfaced several times in the succeeding decades. However, Canada has turned
down an alliance three times, largely because it doesn't want to be seen as
being neocolonialist.
The islands, which are a British colony, are
financially self-sufficient and run a balanced budget.
Edmonton Tory MP Peter Goldring has taken up
the latest campaign, visiting the islands for a fact-finding mission last
January.
His sales pitch is that the islands already
host 16,000 Canadians each year and would provide a stable retirement and
vacation destination. Thirty per cent of hotels and resorts are
Canadian-owned. He also says the islands could be the Canadian hub for
Caribbean trade.
It's not clear what an alliance between
Canada and the Turks and Caicos would look like, but comparisons have been
made with New Zealand and the Cook Islands or even France and Martinique.
As for Nova Scotia, at least one MP wasn't
amused with the idea of annexing a tropical paradise. Glace Bay MP Dave Wilson
said Nova Scotia already has one island to take care of – Cape Breton.
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