We made them (the Newfies) an offer that they could not refuse. There was a close call when it looked like they may not join, but in the end, those "economic difficulties", which had been going on for 400 years, proved to be the tipping point. Unfortunately, things have not improved a great deal for them since 1949. The grand banks are not so grand anymore. They went in for a deal in hydroelectric power with the province of Quebec, and promptly got screwed by the french. It's a bone of contention with them still today. And they pay some of the highest taxes in the country. But they are a good solid people. Friendly, dependable, but with a taste for 'the drink' that makes them resemble the average scotch-irish immigrants that made up a lot of the first wave of new settlers.
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Because I'm the captain, that's why!
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