The federal minister of Natural Resources is responding to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for his comments urging more support at the provincial and federal levels for the offshore.
On Thursday, Mulroney addressed the PC membership ahead of the AGM. He called the $320 million in federal funding a good first step, but that more needed to be done.
Seamus O’Regan praised the Mulroney government at the time for what they did for the offshore industry. However, O’Regan stressed that times have changed.
“This is not 1993,” he says, and stresses that the markets, demands on the markets, and attitudes towards climate change have changed a lot. However, he notes there’s a lot to build on if the right steps are taken.
Premier Andrew Furey asserts the province needs to work with the federal government to ensure we are “charting our own course” as we tackle tough economic times.
Mulroney compared the province’s dire fiscal situation to that of Saskatchewan in 1993. He quoted a Globe and Mail article that said his government stepped in with emergency financial aid and saved that province from the “brink of bankruptcy.”
Furey says a comparison to Saskatchewan’s situation isn’t quite accurate.
It’s a “false comparison” according to Furey. He says the playbook that worked for Saskatchewan won’t work for this province in a post-COVID era.
He is calling on all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to come forward with solutions to fix the province’s finances. He says he will work with his federal counterparts to maintain a “Canadian standard of living” for everyone.
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Source: VOCM | This text was excerpted from the media outlet cited on October 3, 2020 and is provided to Noia members for information purposes only. Any opinion expressed therein is neither attributable to nor endorsed by Noia.
