Offshore Boundary Needs No Change--Op-Ed Piece

(The following text is an excerpt of a speech Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm delivered Monday, March 12, in Fredericton. He was speaking to the tribunal which will settle the offshore boundary dispute between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.)

As premier of Nova Scotia, I am here today to explain the province’s position regarding the issue before this tribunal.

For Nova Scotians, this proceeding is not about where boundary lines should be, or about who should draw them. We believe these questions were resolved to the satisfaction of all parties almost forty years ago.

For Nova Scotians, the issue may be stated very simply -- a deal is a deal.

In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, the offshore potential of Canada’s east coast began to be recognized. At that point, all five eastern provinces decided upon the need to do two critically important things.

The first step was to agree amongst themselves where boundary lines would be drawn for the purpose of offshore development. The second crucial step was to work with the federal government to determine the questions of ownership and jurisdiction over resources that might be discovered offshore.

Clearly, the issue of interprovincial boundaries was regarded as one which had to be addressed -- and conclusively resolved to the satisfaction of all provinces -- before the parties could begin negotiations with Ottawa on the issues of jurisdiction and ownership.

Perhaps more important, offshore boundaries had to be put in place before the provinces could credibly hope to attract any interest from industry.

All five East Coast provinces -- including Newfoundland and Labrador -- participated in that decision-making process. Nova Scotia was represented by its premier of the day, the Hon. Robert Stanfield. Newfoundland was represented by its premier of the day, the Hon. Joseph Smallwood.

With their encouragement and active participation, and after many years of discussions, the premiers of the four Atlantic provinces agreed -- on Sept. 30, 1964 -- on mutual boundaries for the purpose of delimiting their respective rights to offshore resources. Quebec joined the agreement shortly thereafter.

This was the 1964 Agreement, which established the inter- provincial lines that we all still use today.

The 1964 Agreement, developed co-operatively, concluded and implemented in good faith by all, has served as the basis for the development of offshore activity throughout Eastern Canada.

In the years since the provinces agreed on their boundaries, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador concluded jurisdictional and revenue-sharing arrangements with the federal government relating to offshore resources. Other provinces have yet to do so. But all have relied on the lines established in the 1964 Agreement.

I want to stress for the members of this tribunal that the activities of the various provinces with respect to the offshore

• whether under arrangements with the federal government or not
• could not and would not have been possible without a pre- existing agreement among those very provinces.

Without that deal and without the inter-provincial lines that it established, development of the offshore would not have taken place as rapidly.

Today, Atlantic Canada stands on the cusp of major economic and social change which will help all four of our provinces reposition our economies -- economies which have suffered from over a century of decline.

The potential of the offshore -- and the steps taken to develop its vast resources -- have been and will continue to be catalysts driving this strategic opportunity. To upset the basis on which this economic growth has taken place is to risk continued development.

I do wish to stress that Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia have worked together co-operatively on many other issues of importance to our region. And we will continue to do so.

However, in late 1997 or early 1998, Newfoundland and Labrador made known its intention to dispute the existing boundary lines. At no time from 1964 to 1997 did Newfoundland and Labrador ever notify Nova Scotia that it considered the existence of their mutual boundary to be in dispute.

At no time during that period did Newfoundland and Labrador notify its provincial neighbours and co-contracting parties that it considered the 1964 Agreement to be dead.

Challenging the 1964 agreement affects not only the Nova Scotia- Newfoundland and Labrador boundary, but all of the agreed boundaries of the east-coast provinces. Atlantic Canada has depended on the stability of the boundaries established in the 1964 Agreement.

Nova Scotia is not here today to seek a better deal. Instead, Nova Scotia is asking that the tribunal confirm the agreement that has served our region so well over the past decades. And that Newfoundland and Labrador respect and honour the commitments that have governed all decisions regarding exploration and development of the offshore.

This dispute is not about some technical lines drawn on a chart. This dispute is about whether an agreement stands.

We expect that this tribunal will recognize the merits of the arguments and the force of the evidence to be presented by Mr. Fortier and his team.

We trust that 36 years of stability will not be upset.

We expect that the tribunal will determine that the line dividing the offshore areas of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador has been determined by agreement.

We trust that finding in favour of these facts will enable Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador to prosper for decades to come. This will give Atlantic Canada’s provinces an opportunity to work together in building a brighter future for ourselves and for our country.