Do the right thing and pay Abitibi cleanup contractors!
Opposition urges Government

Opposition Leader and MHA for the District of Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair, Yvonne Jones, says that government should do what is morally right and pay the five contractors who carried out cleanup work on the AbitibiBowater property in March 2009.

The Opposition Leader questioned government on the issue this week in the Legislature and government’s hard-nosed stance continues to be that they are not legally responsible to pay the contractors.  The Grand Falls-Windsor contractors carried out environmental cleanup work on the mill while the provincial government was the owner of the property, which occurred in December 2008. 

“These contractors were hired in good faith and in good faith they carried out very important cleanup work that safeguarded our environment,” says Jones. “For government to put up legal arguments not to pay contractors in the town whose businesses are suffering because they cannot get paid for their work is morally wrong and government should be ashamed of their pettiness.”

Jones points out that there is $300,000 involved in this request and it highlights once again the on-going double-standard approach by the Williams’ government.  “Government saw the need to cover off the employees’ severance payments and have lobbied the federal government to ensure the viability of employee pensions and yet, they deny this small group their livelihood. Government has also paid out a whopping $9 million for environmental work at Buchans. I fail to see government’s so-called logic in blacklisting this group.

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