The PC critic for Industry, Energy, and Technology is concerned for the future of the province’s offshore, after news broke on Thursday that some members of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet are against giving the go-ahead to Bay du Nord.
That information was revealed by Radio-Canada.
They say cabinet ministers from Quebec, Ontario, and BC are against the project.
However, they name Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and NL MP Seamus O’Regan as people who support it.
PC MHA Lloyd Parrott says a “fractured cabinet” shouldn’t be able to “hold a hammer over Newfoundland and Labrador’s head.”
He says the province should be able to determine its own future, and this project is an important part of that.
Parrot says the loss of Bay du Nord would be “devastating” for people who have been banking on this work for years.
He says regardless of political stripe, if provincial and federal representatives aren’t angry about this and aren’t jumping and screaming for the project to go ahead, they should be “ashamed” of themselves.
Parrott says this is about the people who work in the offshore and the future of the province, and worries about government’s intentions moving forward.
He says the provincial government recently ended the seismic program, which shows where they are on the issue.
He believes government is aware of what’s happening, and he worries this could be the “beginning of the end” if something isn’t done.