Governing by referendum 

It took him two tries, but in 1948 Joey Smallwood convinced the people of Newfoundland to vote Yes in a referendum that brought the British colony into Canadian Confederation. Now, René Lévesque hopes a referendum will lead Quebec out of Confederation. In this 1977 clip from The Fifth Estate, the Newfoundland premier and California spin doctors take an international look at the concept of putting political decisions directly in the hands of the voters.