Madam Speaker, I am pleased to respond to the member.
The hon. member was not satisfied with the response of the Prime Minister to his question of December 8, 1994. The question at the time related to the process followed by the Hibernia consortium last fall when it became necessary to remove some work on drilling modules that had commenced at the Marystown shipyard in Newfoundland. The work had fallen seriously behind schedule.
In order to avoid jeopardizing the schedule for the entire project, an outcome which could lead to severe cost overruns, the Hibernia Management Development Company decided to place the completion of this contract in the hands of another shipyard on relatively short notice.
The contract was transferred to Saint John Shipbuilding for completion in New Brunswick without giving the MIL Davie a formal opportunity to rebid on the remaining work. The member knows that MIL Davie had submitted a bid on the contract when it was originally tendered but lost out to Marystown.
After the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board reported on the process, followed by the HMDC, the Government of Canada and the Prime Minister again asked the Hibernia consortium to review its decision. The owners did review the decision and four out of five concurred with the chosen course of action.
With an 8 per cent ownership interest in the project, the Canadian government is not in a position to direct decisions taken by a basically private sector consortium.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the member.