Madam Speaker, last week I asked a question of the Minister of Natural Resources, which was responded to by the Minister of Finance, about negotiations with Newfoundland and Labrador in relation to a promised deal by the Prime Minister as it concerned offshore revenues.
The response from the minister was a little hazy. Instead of saying the deal is done, which everyone thought at the time, he said there were negotiations with the minister of finance, a great fellow by the way, Loyola Sullivan, my local MHA and hockey playing partner, who had done a magnificent job on this. The minister left an element of doubt. We in the House thought the deal that the Prime Minister had promised was progressing suitably.
Let me give a bit of history. Leading into the election our leader promised to give Newfoundland and Labrador, if we were elected, 100% of its share of the offshore revenues. There would be no clawback and equalization would continue until we were a contributing province, which is common sense. The Prime Minister promised the same thing. In fact, in the deal which Mr. Williams was offered, the Prime Minister said that there were different provisions. Let me quote what the Prime Minister said on June 6:
I had a discussion…with the premier this morning, and I have made it very clear that the proposal that he has put forth is a proposal that we accept.
The Minister of Natural Resources, in a letter circulated to his constituents, said “the Prime Minister has given me the responsibility of finalizing the deal on the Atlantic accord as soon as possible. That will bring Newfoundland and Labrador 100% of its offshore oil royalties without affecting the provinces equalization payments”.
The deal was offered Sunday, two days before the imposed deadline, as promised by the Prime Minister. He promised Premier Williams the deal would be done by October 25.
On October 24, for the very first time, despite a litany of letters and phone calls from the province, the first response in writing from the federal government was two days before the official deadline with all kinds of little provisos put in: caps, sunset clauses, the fiscal capacity of other provinces, et cetera. It was very complicated. Of course, it was rejected, as we know, by the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and, more importantly, by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. The rest is history.
The Minister of Natural Resources was summoned, briefed thoroughly, and ran down to the province to sell the government's deal that he did not understand, but saying in the process, “Take it or leave it. This is it, no changes”. However, in response to a question two days ago he said:
--this government is allowing 100% revenues and 100% equalization.
If that is the case, the deal would be signed right away. We would accept it, I say to my colleague, the parliamentary secretary, who will be responding.
The parliamentary secretary is going to talk about the process, what is going on and whatever. What I want him to tell us tonight is that there is an agreement. I want him to tell us that the deal we offered on this side was the best deal, was the catalyst, and that the government has agreed to that deal. I want him to tell us that the government is going to call the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and say, “We made a mistake. We should have responded in writing. We will correct past mistakes. We will meet tomorrow. We will sign the deal Newfoundland and Labrador wants, a deal like the opposition promised, and a deal like the Prime Minister promised originally”. If he says that, I will not even come back with my supplementary question.