Newfoundland National Convention

However, Governor Gordon MacDonald explained that delegates were not the Government of Newfoundland, but were convened to debate the constitutional options which would appear on a ballot in a forthcoming referendum.

More motions and amendments were passed in the days following, when on 30 October Kenneth M. Brown, the delegate from Bonavista South, collapsed on the floor of the chamber.

The convention adjourned on 13 December for the Christmas break, but the widespread feeling that Smallwood and the confederates had the upper hand encouraged St. John's businessman F. M. O'Leary and others to form the Responsible Government League.

In 1946, the National Convention dispatched the London Delegation to seek guarantees of continued assistance if Newfoundland were to resume responsible government.

The British government favoured Newfoundland joining Canada, so it did not offer any promises of continued financial aid.

The members (with their districts) were: On 19 June 1947, the National Convention dispatched the Ottawa Delegation to negotiate the Terms of Union for confederation between Newfoundland and Canada.

Newfoundland–Canadian negotiations were largely a one-way affair, because any union between the two dominions was dictated by the provisions of the British North America Act (BNA), under which Canada had come into being in 1867.

Crummey quickly discovered that after Confederation, Newfoundland would lose control of the Grand Banks because the BNA designated fisheries as under federal jurisdiction.

On 11 April 1947, David Jackman moved that a delegation be sent to Washington, DC, to seek terms of union but his motion was not passed by the assembly.

Newfoundland's Governor, Gordon Macdonald announced on 11 March 1948 that confederation with Canada would be on a national referendum ballot along with dominion government and the Commission.