Government should release details of initial
offer for Star Lake assets
Government made an offer for AbitibiBowater’s Star
Lake assets last year before expropriation legislation was brought forward
in the House of Assembly and government should release those details, says
Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones.
AbitibiBowater has announced that they are looking to
receive $300 million for the assets expropriated by government. It was
only recently revealed that NALCOR put in an offer last year before
expropriation took place, but was
outbid by another company. This information was not publicized and was not
mentioned in briefings on draft expropriation legislation. While
government is currently at an impasse with the company on how much they
will pay, there should be no reason as to why the previous offer cannot be
released.
“The original offer made by government for the Star
Lake assets should be made public,” said Ms. Jones. “This offer has
nothing to do with the current impasse being faced by government and
AbitibiBowater and the people of the province deserve to know how much was
offered. If there was an opportunity to settle this issue without going to
court under a NAFTA challenge, this information should be made public.”
Jones is also encouraging government to develop a
back-up plan for workers should AbitibiBowater declare bankruptcy over the
next couple of days and severance and pension obligations be affected.
“AbitibiBowater has until tomorrow night to
restructure their debt or face bankruptcy. We are not talking about
hypothetical situations, this is a very realistic possibility. Many
workers are already pushing the panic button knowing their finances could
be affected. While government is not willing to discuss options publicly
at this time, hopefully they are working on a plan of action to help
workers should the worse case scenario happen.”
