
A technical briefing will take place for the media this afternoon
The feds will introduce an amendment to the Atlantic Accord today, an agreement that once caused a lot of turmoil over oil and led us to being a “have” province instead of “have not.” The accord was signed in 1985 to give Newfoundland Labrador more profit from offshore oil. However, in 2003, a report revealed this province was only getting 15 to 20 percent of the oil revenue, even though the initial accord stated it would be 100 percent. So, in 2005, then Premier Danny Williams got a $2 billion dollar cheque from Ottawa after he called to have all Canadian flags removed from provincial government buildings. In 2019, then Premier Dwight Ball renegotiated terms of the accord to $2.5 billion, to be paid out in installments until 2056, with 60 percent of that money coming to the province before 2030. This afternoon, officials from Natural Resources Canada will hold a technical briefing for members of the media. After that, Minister Wilkinson, along with Seamus O’Regan, Federal Minister of Labour; and other officials will speak to the media.