"I’ve heard Premier Williams continue to ratchet up his rhetoric over the past few days," said Mr. Grimes. "His most recent speech last night at a Tory fundraiser focused on a campaign platform for the Conservative Party of Canada, rather than getting a deal on the Atlantic Accord. The Premier stated earlier this week that he was going to allow negotiations to continue without public comment. Now he is publicly stating that he will work to defeat the people with whom he is negotiating. Is the Premier really interested in getting a deal?

"From day one we have stated that the Premier has bungled this entire negotiation. We have held our criticism in an effort to ensure that this deal gets done. We have strongly supported the province’s position in ensuring we get 100 per cent of offshore revenues. This is not the Williams position, this is the provincial position that has remained consistent since I was Premier. While we will continue to support the province’s position, the Premier’s tactics are becoming a sideshow that is a distraction and will not help this process.

"While the Premier may want to wait until the current minority government falls so that he can actively campaign for the Conservative Party of Canada, this province will have lost years of revenues from our offshore. Our offshore revenues will peak over the next six years and we need to take advantage of these oil revenues now.

"The Prime Minister wants to negotiate. The Premier refuses to do so. I suggest the Premier stop his unhelpful rhetoric. If he is truly committed to getting this deal done, he will stop making inflammatory statements in the media. I also suggest he accept the offer from Jack Harris and myself to form an all party committee to work together to get this deal done. While the Premier may want to do this alone, his approach has certainly not worked.

"Now is the time to open the House of Assembly for a full debate to ensure we all put politics aside and work together in the best interests of the people of the province."