Opposition Leader Roger Grimes said today that Premier Danny Williams and  Natural Resources Minister Ed Byrne, have failed to exercise any due diligence in signing a secret deal with a company under sanctions by the U.S government. Recent media stories have stated that one of the companies involved in the Premier’s secret MOU in developing the Lower Churchill is under U.S. government sanctions for helping develop weapons programs in countries that are under embargo.

"While I feel that this deal was again a result of the Premier’s one man show approach to government, it concerns me that no research was done on the companies involved,"  said Mr. Grimes.  "Had they done so, public information about U.S. government security sanctions against the China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) could have come to light long before any deal was signed and any information was disclosed. The scariest aspect of this agreement is that the Premier was unwilling to release any details about this agreement  until the Opposition submitted an FOI request forcing them to release the information.”

Grimes said it is misleading for Premier Williams to claim this information was leaked by a competitor anxious to develop the Lower Churchill.  "It only took the news media a couple of days to find this information regarding CMEC on the internet. I cannot understand how government, with all of its resources, were not able to find this same information. My guess is that the Premier once again undertook this project unilaterally and did not involve officials of the Department of Natural Resources. Now that this information has become public, the Premier is trying to divert attention away from his own failure by inventing conspiracy theories about Hydro Quebec trying to scuttle any potential deals. This has been proven to be absolutely ludicrous and will do nothing to help other potential negotiations.

"A project like the Lower Churchill will attract interest on its own merit.  These days it is both negligent and foolhardy to enter into any agreement with any company without doing a thorough background check, even if the agreement is just to prepare a proposal. Aside from public information, the provincial government has access to federal agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Department of Foreign Affairs, both of which could have highlighted issues or concerns about CMEC.”

The Opposition Leader called on Premier Williams to make public the specifications of the upcoming call for proposals for the Lower Churchill project and to disclose the names of any and all companies requesting information or submitting proposals.  "We have already witnessed the mess that can be created when this Premier enters into secret deals, we cannot risk this same circumstance again.”