Turks and Caicos

[hermetic]

Anybody been there?

[fryguy]

1. yes

went to the Club Med there back around 95 or so....great times....as is the case with Club Meds, never left the grounds - except for SCUBA - so can't speak at all about the rest of the island....

[Eurobabe]

2. Many, many many times

Every year (almost) since 1994.

What'chya wanna know?

[hermetic]

3. Which island do you prefer

or have you only been on one? Preferred hotels? I'm not exactly the Club Med type. Is tourism the only "industry"?

[iverglas]

4. you know about this, eh?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/turksandcaicos/

CBC News Online | April 16, 2004

Quebec City too cold in February? Fredericton frosty in December? Nunavut November not for you? Fear not, there may be help: at least one member of Parliament and a handful of interest groups are asking the Canadian government to annex a little slice of sun-splashed heaven: the Turks and Caicos, a Caribbean gem with an average wintertime temperature hovering between 28 and 29 C.

Canadian Alliance MP Peter Goldring (Edmonton Centre-East) thinks it's a wonderful idea. ...


Currently a British overseas territory, the Turks and Caicos (actually a grouping of 40 islands located 250 kilometres east of Cuba) have a history of being on the wish lists of Canadian politicians.

In 1974, NDP MP Max Saltsman tried to use a private member's bill to persuade the government to consider annexing the islands. He reasoned that there should be a warm-weather destination for Canadians to spend money on Canadian soil.

... In 1988, members of the Turks and Caicos government resolved to approach the Canadian government about establishing a special relationship. But alas, the idea of annexing a warm-weather island took back seat to the debate over free trade with the United States (something some Canadians consider annexation of a different variety).

...

[hermetic]

5. Yeah, I did know about that

It was the reason I decided to put it in the CA Forum. What I really wanted to know about the place was the overall economic status of the natives. And if it would be possible to rent a place there for like 3 months. But I saw on their official website that one can only go for 30 days. Oh well.....

[iverglas]

6. hmmmm

Anyone preparing to sneak into Canada by the southern door? ;)

I knew Maxie Saltsman when he was an MP. In fact, I saw him regularly and had a dreadful crush on him (and never did figure out the weird details of the bizarre personal scandal that sprang up around him later). He wasn't entirely loony.

I've never seen a problem with the union proposal -- as long, that is, as it isn't an "annexation". If the people there genuinely want to sign up with us, and if there isn't such an imbalance in economic circumstances that either party would be exploiting the other, why not? Diversity is us, after all!

[hermetic]

7. Won't say it didn't cross my mind

Googled Maxie Saltsman, got nothing.

[iverglas]

8. sorry, "Max"

He was mentioned in the CBC article. The NDP MP (Waterloo North, southern Ontario) who first took up the cause of union with the Turks and Caicos. Affectionately, Maxie. And huh, officially "Samuel Meyer":
http://www.city.cambridge.on.ca/cs_pubaccess/hall_of_fame.php?aid=41
which I never knew. Aha, that's because he changed it legally in 1962.

And to his everlasting shame, which I'd forgotten, "in 1983, <he> was appointed by Ontario premier William G. Davis to serve on the Inflation Restraint Board" -- after being "a member of the joint House-Senate Committee on Rising Living Costs which issued a scathing denunciation of government inactivity on what was seen as price gouging and demanded a Prices Review Board." Provincial inflation restraint board, federal wage & price controls ... they were all just fronts for keeping the working folks down while profiteers profited during the 80s.

(Okay, the enthusiasm of the fan for the subject isn't widely shared ... ;) I shall leave Max to rest in peace now.)

And huh, it turns out that the idea originated with PM Borden in 1917:
http://www.belchfire.net/article558.html

When Mr. Saltsman died, the torch was passed to Conservative MP Dan McKenzie (Winnipeg-Assiniboine), and in April 1986, the next generation of Islanders joined with him to make it a major issue in Canada once again. Ralph Higgs and Dalton Jones arrived in Ottawa as a two-man contingent from the Turks & Caicos Development Organization, a group of private citizens drawn from a wide cross section of the Turks & Caicos community, their primary goal being to "forge a link with Canada". They had commissioned an independent survey (the first ever taken in the Islands) and discovered that over 90% of the people indeed favoured some kind of Association with Canada. Higgs and Jones addressed the Progressive Conservative Caucus Sub-Committee on External Affairs chaired by David Daubney, MP (Ottawa West), and their visit received national television and print media coverage, underlining the popular appeal the concept seems to generate in Canada.

There was a substantial wait for the results of the "Daubney Report", which concluded that it would be inappropriate for Canada to unilaterally institute formal talks with the Turks & Caicos when an election was imminent in the Islands, and Canada could not be seen to be interfering in the internal, free democratic process in another country. But the Committee did suggest that Canada should enter into talks with the newly elected Turks & Caicos Government (a ministerial system somewhat similar to Canada's) after the elections provided the new Government asked for such talks and the permission of the British Government was given. The Committee also made two additional recommendations. The first was that Canada should increase its foreign aid to the Turks & Caicos, given the extraordinary degree of good will involved, and that the Canadian private sector should consider investing in the Islands.

[abandon_ship]

9. they've been blabbing about this since i was a kid. ain't gonna happen.

[Maple]

10. No, not likely

However there are a lot of other Caribbean nations we could approach.

Many have the same UK background we do, so they'd be an easy fit...and there is always Cuba.

[croat]

11. Turks & Caicos

I visited two years ago, and simply LOVED the islands and the people. I stayed mostly on Providenciales Island, which has great beaches and is not over-developed (i.e. no huge concrete hotels and/or myriad fast-food joints). The rythmn of life is slow, the weather is great, the water is clean and warm, there is outstanding snorkelling and scuba, and many beaches where, if you go by boat, you can be all alone. I also recommend the Iguana sanctuary island, or a swim with Jojo the dolphin!