Heres a little Deja Vu for the Ghost of the evil lawyer Johnny "Never Been Good" Crosbie to enjoy
2005 01 T 0010
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
TRAIL DIVISION
BETWEEN: WILLIAM MATTHEWS PLAINTIFF
AND: BYRON PRIOR DEFENDANT
AND BETWEEN: BYRON PRIOR DEFENDANT/PLAINTIFF BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: WILLIAM MATTHEWS PLAINTIFF/FIRST DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: T. ALEX HICKMAN SECOND DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: THOMAS MARSHALL THIRD DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: DANNY WILLIAMS FOURTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: EDWARD M. ROBERTS FIFTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: JOHN CROSBIE SIXTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: PATTERSON PALMER SEVENTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
ORDER
Before the Honourable Chief Justice Green.
Filed January 21, 2005
UPON HEARING Stephen J. May, of Counsel for the Plaintiff, AND UPON READING the Application and Affidavit filed herein, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, until further order of the court, Byron Prior is prohibited from publishing, causing to have published, distributing or causing to have distributed the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim pending the determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety, and that the Court's file in this proceeding is not to be made available for review by anyone other than the parties or their legal counsel pending the determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety, and that the requirements relating to the obligations of the Defendants to the Counterclaim to file Defences are be waived pending the determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety. AND IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT the content of the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim shall not be published or broadcast in any manner whatsoever until further order of the court.
AND IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that the Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim is scheduled to be heard on January 26, 2005.
AND IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that costs of this Application be in the cause.
DATED at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador this 21st day of January, 2005.
John Crosbie had a remarkable career that took him from St. John's city council to the inner sanctum of Parliament Hill, from fishing wharfs to the negotiating rooms of international trade agreements. He was 88. (CBC)
John Crosbie, a firebrand of a politician who served in several federal cabinet portfolios and who played a dominant role in his beloved Newfoundland and Labrador for decades, has died.
He was 88. He died at 6 a.m., a family member said.
"To Newfoundland and Labrador and to Canada, he was an independent spirit, a passionate nation builder, an orator of biting wit and charm, and always — forever — a tireless fighter for the people," reads a family statement released Friday morning.
"John's is a legacy worth celebrating, a life worth emulating, a name indelibly etched in the history of this place we love."
Crosbie's remains will rest in state the Confederation Building, a rare honour not seen since former premier Joseph R. Smallwood died in 1991. Public visitation will be held at the House of Assembly on Jan. 14-15 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. NT.
A televised funeral service will be held at the Anglican Cathedral in St. John's on Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. Condolences from former prime ministers, colleagues, friends and media personalities alike were plentiful Friday, as news of Crosbie's death spread across the country.
During a remarkable career that took him from St. John's city council to the inner sanctum of Parliament Hill, from fishing wharfs to the negotiating rooms of international trade agreements, Crosbie earned praise — and criticism — for his quick wit, saucy tongue and willingness to make controversial decisions.
Chief among those was a stomach-churning decision to shut down the northern cod fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador in 1992, a decision that instantly put an estimated 30,000 people out of work and triggered what was called the single largest industrial layoff in Canadian history.
John Crosbie tells CBC News in 2017 about his experience in politics, when he says he had to fight for a better compensation package for displaced fisheries workers in 1992. (CBC)
He also oversaw Canada's fateful 1989 free-trade agreement with the United States, championed the Hibernia offshore oil megaproject in the years before its development, and served as a powerful regional minister in an era when cabinet portfolios were allowed that kind of clout. A titan of Tory politics, he was unapologetic about patronage, claiming that appointing qualified supporters to public positions was key to democracy.
Crosbie never served as premier of Newfoundland and Labrador nor prime minister, but he was politically ambitious, launching unsuccessful leadership attempts at the provincial and federal levels.
In his later years, he served as Newfoundland and Labrador's lieutenant-governor, a ceremonial role he embraced between 2008 and 2013.
His last major public appearance was in September 2018, when his son Ches Crosbie won a provincial byelection. Ches Crosbie is now the leader of the Opposition Tories in Newfoundland and Labrador's House of Assembly.
Lt.-Gov. John Crosbie in the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature in St. John's March 22, 2010. (The Canadian Press)
Born into privilege
John Carnell Crosbie was born Jan. 30, 1931, in St. John's to a prominent business family. He overcame the painful shyness of his youth to emerge as a potent political force, with his career in public life stretching from the 1960s through to his final years.
Although known for a caustic wit and a willingness to argue with any political opponent, Crosbie — who trained first as a lawyer — once found public speaking so mortifying that he enrolled in a Dale Carnegie course to muster the courage to speak in public.
His political career accelerated quickly. Crosbie jumped from a seat on St. John's city council to a cabinet seat in the Liberal government of legendary Newfoundland premier Joseph R. Smallwood in 1966.
Lt-Gov. Crosbie, wearing a sealskin coat, and his wife, Jane, greet Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at Government House for a tree planting ceremony Nov. 4, 2009, in St. John's. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
But Crosbie resisted becoming a Smallwood protegé, and in 1968 quit cabinet — with future Liberal premier Clyde Wells — over frustrations with a deal Smallwood wanted to make with American industrialist John Shaheen over an oil refinery at Come By Chance.
Crosbie stayed on the sidelines of the provincial Liberals before stepping into a leadership race in 1969 to replace Smallwood. His ambitions were thwarted in bizarre fashion, though, when Smallwood — still the sitting premier — entered the leadership race to replace himself, insisting that Liberals could not trust the young politician he decried as a "merchant princeling."
Crosbie broke ranks with the Liberals and, in a fateful move, jumped to the Progressive Conservatives, helping the once-feeble Newfoundland Tories muster enough strength to topple the 23-year grip on power that Smallwood had enjoyed. With Frank Moores as premier, Crosbie emerged as the de facto powerhouse of the PC government, serving in roles that included finance and government House leader.
By 1976, the lure of federal politics took Crosbie to Ottawa, after he won a byelection in St. John's West — the riding he would represent for most of the next two decades.
Crosbie in the House Of Commons on May 17, 1988. (Chuck Mitchell/The Canadian Press)
In 1979, he was finance minister in Joe Clark's short-lived Tory government, wearing mukluks (rather than the traditional new pair of shoes) to bring in a tough-love budget that included tax increases for what Crosbie called "short-term pain for long-term gain."
Clark's government wound up having a short term, with the NDP putting Crosbie's budget to a non-confidence vote that triggered a new election.
In 1983, Crosbie entered the subsequent PC leadership contest that Clark called to resolve tensions within the party. He wound up placing third, behind Clark and the victor, Brian Mulroney. Crosbie declined to endorse either candidate, and earned attention as the largest defender of free trade in the race. But his campaign came under attack when, defending his inability to speak French, he quipped that he could not speak Mandarin Chinese, either.
Federal front bench
As a key member of Mulroney's team in the wake of the Tory triumph in the 1984 election, Crosbie held several portfolios in the years to come: justice, transport, international trade and fisheries.
A dedicated free trader, Crosbie held the torch for Canada as it negotiated the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. The FTA became the template for NAFTA, the trilateral agreement later reached with Mexico.
His time in Parliament was marked as much by colour and controversy as by his political ambitions.
Federal Fisheries Minister Crosbie confronts fishermen in Bay Bulls on July 1, 1992. (CBC)
"Just quiet down, baby," he told Liberal MP Sheila Copps in an infamous June 1985 exchange in the House of Commons. "I'm not his baby, and I'm nobody's baby," Copps fired back.
Five years later, Crosbie ignited another controversy about Copps when he quoted the lyrics of a Bobby Bare song at a B.C. fundraising dinner. "Pass the tequila, Sheila, and lay down and love me again," he said. Crosbie and Copps, despite the headlines, became friends. She titled her 1986 autobiography Nobody's Baby and he wrote the introduction for her second book, Worth Fighting For, in 2004.
Crosbie frequently earned the ire of feminists — New Democrat Dawn Black, one of what Crosbie called the "four horsewomen of the apocalypse" once called him a "Crosbiesaurus"— but he also held firm to Red Tory beliefs. Pro-choice, Crosbie actually fought in 1990 for the reinstatement of funding that had been cut for women's programs across Canada, and held progressive views on social issues, including protecting LGBT people from discrimination.
Shutting down the fishery
In his final years in cabinet, Crosbie took on the fisheries portfolio — as well as the politically difficult decision to shut down the northern cod fishery on July 2, 1992. The decision came after months of consistently worsening reports of the state of cod stocks, and would be followed by other closures in Atlantic Canadian waters.
The day before, on Canada Day, Crosbie uttered one of his most famous remarks when he was confronted by angry fishermen on the wharf in Bay Bulls.
"Why are you yelling at me? I didn't take the fish from the God damn water," Crosbie yelled back.
Ches Crosbie, right, sits beside his father on Dec. 18, 2014. (The Canadian Press)
It was a sign of Crosbie's clout in cabinet that he was able to deliver a massive compensation package that provided transitional income for about 28,000 people who either fished for a living or worked in fish plants that subsequently closed.
Crosbie retired from federal politics in 1993, the same year the PCs would be not only cleared out of office but reduced to a caucus of just two seats. Crosbie, who thought little of Kim Campbell's leadership, found himself to be the blunt party member who called it the way he saw it after the loss.
"The world knows who's responsible," Crosbie told CBC News. "It's the leader and those immediately around her who advised during the course of the election campaign. They must bear the burden of responsibility."
Semi-public life
Although Crosbie would toy with the idea of a return to elected office — he briefly entertained the thought of a federal comeback leading into the 2004 election — he found other pursuits after Ottawa.
He wrote a 1997 memoir, No Holds Barred: My Life In Politics, in which he detailed behind-the-scenes exchanges with his former colleagues among the high and mighty. He also acknowledged that his sense of humour could be a liability with some pundits and journalists.
Conservative cabinet minister Crosbie is invested as Officer to the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. Romeo LeBlanc at a ceremony at Rideau hall in Ottawa in 1999. (Tom Hanson/The Canadian Press)
"I refused to act as though I'd been weaned on a pickle," he wrote, describing how he stood out from other politicians.
"The media, however, wouldn't make the effort to listen to what I was saying or understand what I was doing. Instead, they stereotyped me as a buffoon, an entertainer, a jokester who was incapable of taking serious matters seriously."
Crosbie also found himself bristling at having been often labelled a "loose cannon because I refused to pussyfoot around issues and only say safe, predictable things."
Away from the political limelight, Crosbie returned to a private legal practice, but found new ways to participate in public life.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, left, shares a laugh with Crosbie, chancellor of Memorial University, as Chrétien receives an honorary doctor of laws degree in St. John's on May, 24, 2000. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)
In 1994, he was named chancellor of Memorial University, a post he held for 14 years. In 2008, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. His five-year term returned him often to the public eye, albeit in a much more ceremonial fashion.
During his tenure as lieutenant-governor, Crosbie pursued a project of passion: developing a memorial to sealers, particularly those killed in a notorious 1914 disaster. The Home From The Sea centre and memorial was formally unveiled in 2014.
Bill Brown Love or hate his politics, there is no denying that he loved NL and played a colourful part in Canadian politics. Rest in peace , sir & my heartfelt condolences to your family and friends.
David Mccaig
Reply to @Bill Brown: Never liked the man or his combat politics.
David Mccaig
Reply to @Bill Brown: John Crosbie was the first of the new wave of unreasonable perpetually angry conservatives.
Bill Brown
Reply to @david mccaig: Saorry David, you're missing the Newfoundland sense of humour.
Eugene D Burles
po lit i cal op port u nist
David Mccaig
Reply to @Bill Brown: Liberal John Crosbie crossed the floor to be a conservative to keep his pay cheque coming, not out of ideology.
David Mccaig
Reply to @Bill Brown: No doubt he was a character and i wish him all the best in his after life, if there is such a thing.
Lorraine Karuse
Reply to @david mccaig: was he the Sheila taquila remark guy?
April Wong
Reply to @lorraine karuse: Pass the Tequila Sheila, Crosby has left the house ... may his family enjoy rejoicing his life...
Lorraine Karuse
Reply to @david mccaig: This is OT but didn't see your comment on the story so I am writing it here, if you like to read: Report: Trump Cited GOP Senate Impeachment Pressure As Reason to Kill Soleimani..By Jonathan Chait..nymag.com Deep inside a long, detailed Wall Street Journal report about President Trump’s foreign policy advisers is an explosive nugget: “Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said.” This is a slightly stronger iteration of a fact the New York Times reported three days ago, to wit, “pointed out to one person who spoke to him on the phone last week that he had been pressured to take a harder line on Iran by some Republican senators whose support he needs now more than ever amid an impeachment battle.”
This would not mean Trump ordered the strike entirely, or even primarily, in order to placate Senate Republicans. But it does constitute an admission that domestic political considerations influenced his decision. That would, of course, constitute a grave dereliction of duty.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @david mccaig: Methinks if folks wish to know some awful truths just Google his name and mine sometime N'esy Pas?
Jack Thompson We don't have anyone like that anymore. A legend at Dal law school for his brilliance and one of the most entertaining politicians in Canadian history. A sublime wit and intellect we could so badly use on this day.
David Mccaig
Reply to @Jack Thompson: In a portion of the country with perpetual high unemployment, John Crosbie solved his problem by becoming a career politician.
David Mccaig
Reply to @Jack Thompson: Like ALL career politicians John Crosbie placed his political survival first.
Wayne Gerber
Reply to @david mccaig: A lot of them are. Particularly on the left, at all levels of government.
Patrick Smyth
Reply to @Wayne Gerber: "Particularly on the left"
Lost me... Just as making similar generalizations about the "right" would.
Partisan political posturing is for losers.
Wayne Gerber
Reply to @Patrick Smyth: Not when my statement is blatantly obvious and true.
Wayne Gerber
Reply to @Patrick Smyth: Yet it triggered your response of 'outrage'
Patrick Smyth
Reply to @Wayne Gerber: "Not when my statement is blatantly obvious and true."
Then prove that it is more prevalent among the "left" than anywhere else. You are passing your opinion off as fact. You are dumping a whole bunch of DIFFERENT people with different motivations and life experiences into one group called "the left"
That says everything I need to know about you. I don't and NEVER have generalized about left OR right, yet you excuse and justify generalizing and stereotyping vast numbers of people as if there is some giant conspiracy of "the left"
Only one of us is out of touch with reality and it isn't me.
Wayne Gerber
Reply to @Patrick Smyth: Yet you attempt to pass yourself off as neutral, but in your attempt to berate me you do nothing else but defend leftist politicians. Call a spade a spade. Most politicians on the left, (unofficial when it comes to municipal politicians) never risked everything to start a business, employed people, innovated etc, but are quick to depict business people as arch capitalist bogeyman. Don't tell me I'm out of touch with reality. Have a great afternoon.
Wayne Gerber
Reply to @Patrick Smyth: Also if you read what I stated, I was talking about leftist politicians, not peoples personal political beliefs.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Jack Thompson: Trust that not everyone agrees with you
Jeffrey Wayne A true Canadian and yes one of the real Conservatives.
Karen King
Reply to @Jeffrey Wayne: he crossed the floor did he not??
David Mccaig
Reply to @Karen King: haha! Karen,BAM, KAPOW, WHAMM!
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Jeffrey Wayne: Yea Right
Kate LeBlanc A mouthy sometimes irreverent Progressive Conservative who actually was able to make me smile,laugh out loud and sometimes agree with. His ilk have all but disappeared.Thanks for the memories John.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Kate LeBlanc: I have different memories and none of them make me laugh
Kate LeBlanc
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: I didn't mean laugh as in funny
Len Evans Rest in peace Mr. Crosbie. Your contribution to NL will be remembered.
David Raymond Amos Content disabled
Reply to @Len Evans: I hope he doesn't but trust that I have gone to great length over the years to make certain that he will be remembered Just Google his name and mine to verify what I say is true
Don Mason Condolences to John's Family and Loved ones.
David Raymond Amos@DavidRayAmos Replying to @DavidRayAmos@Kathryn98967631 and 47 others Methinks old Johnny "Never Been Good" Crosbie and a lot of fat, dumb and happy cops, lawyers, politicians and journalists in Newfoundland know why I am gonna have fun with this election N'esy Pas?
Here's the juggernaut Ches Crosbie will have to fight like hell to overcome
35 Comments Commenting is now closed for this story.
David R. Amos Methinks I should resend an old email then call NL Alliance's Graydon Pelley to see if he remembers me N'esy Pas?
David R. Amos
Reply to @David R. Amos: Here is little Deja Vu for folks to enjoy
2005 01 T 0010
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
TRAIL DIVISION
BETWEEN: WILLIAM MATTHEWS PLAINTIFF
AND: BYRON PRIOR DEFENDANT
AND BETWEEN: BYRON PRIOR DEFENDANT/PLAINTIFF BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: WILLIAM MATTHEWS PLAINTIFF/FIRST DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: T. ALEX HICKMAN SECOND DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: THOMAS MARSHALL THIRD DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: DANNY WILLIAMS FOURTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: EDWARD M. ROBERTS FIFTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: JOHN CROSBIE SIXTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
AND: PATTERSON PALMER SEVENTH DEFENDANT BY COUNTERCLAIM
ORDER
Before the Honourable Chief Justice Green.
David R. Amos
Reply to @David R. Amos: Filed January 21, 2005
UPON HEARING Stephen J. May, of Counsel for the Plaintiff, AND UPON READING the Application and Affidavit filed herein, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, until further order of the court, Byron Prior is prohibited from publishing, causing to have published, distributing or causing to have distributed the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim pending the determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety, and that the Court's file in this proceeding is not to be made available for review by anyone other than the parties or their legal counsel pending the determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety, and that the requirements relating to the obligations of the Defendants to the Counterclaim to file Defences are be waived pending the determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety. AND IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT the content of the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim shall not be published or broadcast in any manner whatsoever until further order of the court.
AND IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that the Application to strike the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim is scheduled to be heard on January 26, 2005.
AND IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that costs of this Application be in the cause.
DATED at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador this 21st day of January, 2005.
Signed by J. Derek Green, Chief Justice
Gerald Niven I got a tell ya about my political nightmare…There I was, I found myself unable to move a muscle, while I looked on as Liberals Roger Grimes, Billy Rowe, Eddie Roberts, Rossy Barbour, and Joey Smallwood were sitting around a Holiday Inn room having a séance. Old Joey was leading the séance, and a ghostly image of Chess Crosbie was emerging from a genie bottle, but then… all of a sudden, Dwit Ball appeared and pushed Joey over because Ball was in a tussle head-lock with PC Jim Morgan, better known as Jigger Jim…Then, Liberal Steve Neary of Bell Island fame started in singing Dick Nolan’s hit tune ‘Aunt Martha’s Sheep’… but, the next thing I know, John White from the TV show All Around the Circle fame was fist fisticuffs with Dick Nolan, and yelling at Dwit to let go Jigger Jim… The next thing I know Brian Tobin’s image also started coming out of the genie’s lamp, but like a ravenous wolf, old dip stick, Chess Crosbie, bit off Tobin’s head… Then, old Dwit screamed out, The Writ, the Writ… and, everybody scrambled, while an envelope of insense smoke immersed everybody in the room, and all I could hear was the fading screaming voice of Dwit yelling, “The Dwit, The Dwit”…sounding like that little midget guy from that old 1970’s TV show Fantasy Island yelling, de Plane, Boss… de Plane… Man what a hag… what a nightmare… Maybe, NL is a Fantasy Island…Anyway, fantasy or no fantasy, I’m all messed up…knowing more of who not to vote for, than who to vote for… me-old-stick-in-the-mud
Mark Mac
Reply to @Gerald Niven: what’d you eat before bed dude? magic mushrooms?
Patrick David
Reply to @Mark Mac: I wonder what material Gerald's hat is made from ?
Robert G. Holmes
Reply to @Gerald Niven: It's an age thing Gerald. I had similar nightmare, awoke in a sweat, and near died laughing reading your post. You didn't miss much, other than the bog hole GHB fell into while fishing with Craiggy, boys and girls.
David R. Amos
Reply to @Gerald Niven: Methinks many a true word is said in jest N'esy Pas?
Gerald Niven
Reply to @Mark Mac: Well Marc, I lapped into some of that NL farmed salmon with a few Blackhorse out in the shed the other night... I don't know if what I ate could have had any of that infectious salmon anemia, what Gerry Byrne calls ISA Salmon, from Gaultois, Hermitage Bay way... Could a been that, alright... I didn't bother to look at it closely for any sea lice or parasites... I mean Gerry Byrne in a news publication said it was fit to eat, and if you can't believe a politician, than who can you believe. right?... Anyway, just to be on the safe side, before I eats anymore, I'm going to write Gerry's office and ask, if he eats any of it..
UPON HEARING Stephen J. May, of Counsel for the Plaintiff, AND UPON
READING the Application and Affidavit filed herein, IT IS HEREBY
ORDERED, until further order of the court, Byron Prior is prohibited
from publishing, causing to have published, distributing or causing
to have distributed the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim pending
the determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the
Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety, and that the
Court's file in this proceeding is not to be made available for review
by anyone other than the parties or their legal counsel pending the
determination of the Applicant's Application to strike the Statement
of Defence and Counterclaim in its entirety, and that the requirements
relating to the obligations of the Defendants to the Counterclaim to
file Defences are be waived pending the determination of the
Applicant's Application to strike the Statement of Defence and
Counterclaim in its entirety. AND IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT the
content of the Statement of Defence and Counterclaim shall not be
published or broadcast in any manner whatsoever until further order of
the court.
AND IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that the Application to strike the
Statement of Defence and Counterclaim is scheduled to be heard on
January 26, 2005.
AND IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that costs of this Application be
in the cause.
DATED at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador this 21st day of
January, 2005.
Signed by J. Derek Green, Chief Justice