QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Indigenous Services
Offshore Petroleum Development
April 30, 2019
Thank you, Minister O’Regan, for appearing again. You tempt me to speak on the environmental aspect you just spoke about. I know it very well, and it’s not the mess that you recall.
My question is on the Laurentian Channel Marine Protected Area.
As minister representing Newfoundland and Labrador in cabinet, you heard your colleague Minister Wilkinson last week designate the Laurentian Channel as a marine protected area, effectively cutting off all industrial economic activity that could happen in that area, despite for 500 years fishermen and fisherwomen actively harvesting in that area. This essentially cuts off what might be a future pipeline bringing Newfoundland and Labrador’s stranded gas — not oil — in the offshore to markets in northeast New England.
Because I have only one opportunity to ask this, I will ask my second question. The Laurentian Channel, by the way, minister, has no special seamounts or special coral, anything different from where offshore drilling and production is taking place in the North Atlantic.
How was the Laurentian Channel designated? This was first brought forward in 2006, where it was rejected by the Harper government, you will recall. Why is the Laurentian Channel now all of a sudden a special area requiring protection, when it’s no different than the undersea substrate in the rest of the Grand Banks? And why has the federal government, minister, encroached on the negotiated and legislated jurisdiction of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board?
First of all, with regard to the Laurentian Channel, an agreement was made between the province and the federal government, when seeking out marine protected areas, this would be a suitable candidate for particular circumstances due to its ecosystem.
It’s also important to note that this agreement was made under the purview of the C-NLOPB. I should add that it was only a month ago that we reached a Hibernia Dividend Backed Annuity Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. This is under the auspices of the Atlantic Accord, which is a bilateral and binding accord between two governments, dating back to the 1980s. It ensures that Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore resources are treated as if they were on land. Importantly for the members of this chamber, it basically means the province gets 100 per cent of the royalties, as if it were Alberta, which was an important and game-changing accord for the future of our province.
Indeed, as an aside, in order to ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador remained the principal beneficiary of its offshore, we were able to take, as a guaranteed revenue return from the Government of Canada’s shares in Hibernia, $2.5 million through the provincial government. That’s very important.
What is more important to the senator’s question is that we were able to deepen and affirm the bilateral nature of the Atlantic Accord to ensure that when it comes to offshore oil and gas, this is truly a bilateral relationship. When things happen, such as the designation of an MPA — or in this instance as well, the opening up of the Northeast Slope for further exploration — it is done in conjunction with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Honourable senators, before proceeding to the next senator, I would remind honourable senators that we have asked that senators limit their questions to just one, because there is a long list of senators who wish to ask questions of the minister.
I would also caution senators that the ministers who appear are answering questions normally pertaining to their portfolios, in this case, Indigenous affairs. If the minister wants to go beyond that and answer other questions, that’s entirely up to the minister.
