Minister Byrne stated on Friday that the Voisey’s Bay agreement only provides a best efforts clause for local benefits and there is nothing he can do to force Inco and VBNC to give these opportunities to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

"It is obvious that Minister Byrne either doesn’t care if benefits accrue to local people from the Voisey’s Bay agreement, or he is afraid to challenge Inco and VBNC," said Mr. Grimes. "Saying that the agreement only provides a best efforts clause is untrue and a scapegoat for a minister who would like nothing better than to see this project fail miserably.

"Even Minister Byrne’s own caucus members are frustrated by his lack of action on this file. Fabian Manning issued a press release last week which states that the minister is unwilling to take action to help enforce the benefits clauses. How effective is this minister if he is being criticized by his own caucus members?

"Attempting to downplay the agreement and refusing to enforce the benefits clauses is a shameful act of cowardice. Our government had a good working relationship with VBNC and Inco, and both companies worked with government to ensure these benefits clauses were complied with. We were successful in achieving maximum benefit from the agreement, how could this have changed so drastically over the past three months?

"If Minister Byrne is not willing to enforce an agreement that provides benefit to the people of our province, I suggest he resign and move to the backbenches and allow Mr. Manning to enforce the agreement as it was meant to be enforced."