The official opposition is raising some serious questions about whether former Nalcor Chair and World Energy GH2 Director Brendan Paddick, had knowledge of the wind moratorium being lifted before it was publicly announced.

Opposition leader Barry Petten first raised the issue in the House of Assembly by questioning Premier Andrew Furey about a cabinet meeting held on March 24.

Through the line of questioning Petten alleges that the decision to lift the wind moratorium was made at that meeting. Later that day, Paddick officially submitted a letter to Minister Andrew Parsons announcing his resignation as the chair of Nalcor.

The official announcement about the moratorium would then come less than two weeks later on April 5.

When asked by reporters if the resignation could be a coincidence, Petten responded simply “absolutely not.”

Premier Furey argues that discussions around lifting the wind moratorium had been publicly discussed for years leading up to that point, as it was in the Liberal platform, the PC platform, and the renewable energy plan released in December 2021.

He says people can take any two random dots in time and try to connect them, which is fair for the opposition to do, “but it’s not the case.”