The organization which represents skilled workers in the province says it’s time to play hardball with Equinor, the lead oil company on the Bay du Nord field.

The project was put on hold a couple of years ago but the signs are pointing to a restart of the deep-water well off Newfoundland.

The executive director of Trades NL has been lobbying governments to ensure that a significant amount of construction work on oil projects be done in this province. He says Equinor revealed at the Placentia Bay Industrial Showcase this week that none of the topsides work will even be done in Canada, much less Newfoundland and Labrador.

Bob Fiander calls it a missed opportunity given that Hebron, a $14-billion project, resulted in massive spinoff activity in the province.

He says Hebron created 67,500 jobs, $2.8-billion in direct labour income and more in indirect and induced income for a total of $4.9-billion.

“The Bay du Nord price tag is around $16-billion so the jobs and labour income would be similarly massive if we construct it right here at home,” says Fiander.

He’s calling on all three leaders to take a stand.

He says you can go all the way back to the first project – Hibernia – and find that the developers do not want to construct in Newfoundland and Labrador, but our governments of the day took the strong stand and told them ‘you will construct here in Newfoundland and Labrador.”