For Immediate Release
15 June, 2021
NDP Leader Alison Coffin is calling on the province to stop wasting time and develop a just transition plan in response to what has unfolded with the Terra Nova FPSO project. Instead of getting back to work, oil companies asked for even more money. Coffin said it is clear that oil companies are not putting workers first, in spite of the half a billion dollars offered up by the province.
“This morning I stood on the steps in solidarity with workers from the oil and gas industry. Workers fear for their jobs, for their families, and it is clear they do not trust the government to navigate this effectively,” said Coffin. “Successive governments have squandered opportunities at the peak of oil to start a just transition, and now achieving that will be more difficult and require collaboration at all levels of government to ensure workers don’t suffer undo harm.”
The NDP Caucus is calling on government to stop pandering to lobbying efforts by the industry and recognize that we must take control of our future. We cannot have our economy held hostage by the oil industry. Should things continue the way they have, workers in oil and gas are going to suffer the same fate as those impacted by the cod moratorium.
“We cannot continue to be reactionary to the demands of oil companies and forget that every ounce of prosperity that our economy has seen from this industry is solely as a result of hard working people in this province. These workers continue to make sacrifices while living in constant fear that their livelihoods are going to evaporate without a just transition plan,” Coffin said today. “We lived through the outcome of the collapse of an industry government chose to ignore, with no plan, until it was too late, and we cannot allow this to happen again.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca