Chesley A. (Ches) Crosbie (1905-1962) was a Newfoundland businessman and politician. Newfoundland —   (stress on final syllable; for mispronunciations, see Newfoundland travel guide from Wikitravel)— (French: , Irish: ) is a large island off the east coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ...

Crosbie belonged to a prominent St. John's family involved in hotels, fish exporting, insurance, shipping and manufactring. His father, Sir John Chalker Crosbie, was the founder of Crosbie and Company Limited and served in the colony's government as Minister of Shipping in 1917, in Acting Prime Minister in 1918 and Minister of Finance and Customs from 1924 until his retirement in 1928. St. ...

After the elder Crosbie's death in 1932, Chesley Crosbie took over the family business and attempted to expand it further by investing in whaling.

Crosbie was a delegate to the Newfoundland National Convention and favoured responsible government. On March 20, 1948, he split with the Responsible Government League, the main opposition party to Joey Smallwood, and formed the Party for Economic Union with the United States that promoted free trade with the US instead of Confederation with Canada. He and many younger convention delegates feared that the RGL was disorganized and bound to lose the referendum campaign unless a new party was formed. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Responsible government is a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. ... The Responsible Government League was a political movement in the history of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... Joey Smallwood (center) Joseph Roberts Joey Smallwood CC (December 24, 1900 - December 18, 1991) was the last Father of Confederation in Canada, bringing Newfoundland into Confederation in 1949. ... The Economic Union Party (formally the Party for Economic Union with the United States) was a political party formed in the Dominion of Newfoundland on March 20, 1948 at the beginning of the first referendum campaign on the future of the island. ... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... We dont have an article called Canadian-confederation Start this article Search for Canadian-confederation in. ...

The divided anti-Confederation forces were defeated by Smallwood's Confederate Association in the 1948 Newfoundland referendums. Crosbie subsequently served as a member of the seven person delegation sent to Ottawa to negotiate the final Terms of Union with Canada[1] Dissatisfied with the negotiations, he refused to sign the final agreement citing objections to its financial terms[2] and retired from public life. The Confederate Association was a political party formed and led by Joey Smallwood and Gordon Bradley to advocate that the Dominion of Newfoundland join Canadian Confederation. ... The Newfoundland Referendums of 1948 were a series of two referendums to decide the future of the British Colony of Newfoundland. ...

His son, John Crosbie, became a prominent politician serving as both a provincial and federal cabinet minister. Hon. ...

External links

• Junior Achievement of Newfoundland and Labrador Biography
• Chesley A. Crosbie: The Confederation Debate