NEWS RELEASE
                                                                                       Office of the Official Opposition

Liberal Fisheries Critic calling for injunction against OCI

Liberal Opposition Fisheries Critic and MHA for the District of St. Barbe, Jim Bennett, says the provincial government should be applying for an injunction against OCI to prevent it from gutting its commitment to the Marystown plant.

In a letter sent today to the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Bennett argued that the public Memorandum of Understanding presents options to the provincial government which he feels have not been acted upon.  

“The public agreement allows the minister to acquire the plant at a fair value and requires OCI to pay $5 Million if it closes the plant, in addition to a $5 Million penalty if it breaches the agreement,” said Bennett. “The fact of the matter is that we do not know whether or not OCI has breached this agreement because the company and the provincial government refuse to share the final ‘secret agreement’ with the people of the province who own this resource.”

“Furthermore, the agreement stated that a Compliance Evaluation Panel was to be set up to monitor OCI’s activities and determine if the company was in non-compliance. Not only have we not heard from this panel, it has not been disclosed by the government if this panel was indeed put in place.

“I am calling on the minister to request that the Department of Justice immediately apply for an injunction to prevent OCI from any action that would gut this agreement until a proper evaluation has been carried out by the Compliance Evaluation Panel.  There is too much at stake here to the people of Marystown and the people of the province. From all appearances, OCI has not lived up to the agreement and the minister needs to use every tool at his disposal to protect the public’s interest.”