Government and the Opposition went back and forth in the House of Assembly on who had the best deal on Bay du Nord and the release of information on the latest agreement to the public.

Opposition Leader John Hogan was seeking the release of the new benefits agreement reached with Equinor on the development of Bay de Nord, accusing government of a lack of transparency.

Hogan says the benefits agreement was announced more than a week ago, but hasn’t yet been released, unlike former agreements that were released and posted online. “What are they hiding?” Hogan asked “is the premier concerned that releasing this agreement will expose that he did not get the deal that he promised?”

Energy Minister Lloyd Parrot responded “not only did we get the deal that we were looking for, but we got a way better deal than they did.”

Hogan and Parrott then traded barbs about what was agreed to, and what was not.

“I didn’t do a deal” says Hogan “’cause I didn’t take a deal that was bad for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. I didn’t take a deal because there was no topsides being built in Newfoundland and Labrador. I didn’t take a deal because there was no guarantee that one single job would be for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.” He pressed government again, “Why won’t he release the agreement?”

Energy Minister Lloyd Parrott told the House, “The 2018 deal, the deal that the Liberals had; 22.3 million person hours. Our deal? 31.3 (million) person hours. Operations; 12 million for the deal they had. 23 million for our deal. Fabrication tonnage; 15,400 tonnes for our deal, their deal? 5,000 tonnes. Fabrication fund; $2 million for our deal, their deal? Nothing!”