The following statement was issued today by Premier Danny Williams. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

This morning the Governor General of Canada dropped the writ for a federal election to be held on January 23, 2006.

As we all know, a federal election represents an ideal opportunity to put forward to federal parties the issues of importance to Newfoundland and Labrador. Our government did this during the last federal election just 17 short months ago, and we had great success with this approach.

Indeed, we were able to garner from all leaders a commitment that Newfoundland and Labrador would become principal beneficiaries of our offshore revenues, and after several months of negotiations, we achieved the new milestone Atlantic Accord agreement.

Given the proven effectiveness of this approach, I have again submitted a letter outlining issues of importance to this province, to the leaders of the federal Conservative, Liberal and NDP parties.

There are so many matters of critical importance to the people of this province and my letter includes those that we feel most represent issues which require the positions of the parties.

This letter puts forward several questions to the leaders covering the key areas of: the fishery; energy; federal presence in the province; equalization; Labrador specific issues; Marine Atlantic; and economic development and infrastructure.

I would like to point out that the intent of this letter is to put forward issues that are unique to our province. Through the Council of Atlantic Premiers and the Council of the Federation, I join with my fellow premiers in promoting pan-Canadian issues with the federal parties such as health care and education, among others.

We expect responses from all leaders, and we would also like to hear from each and every candidate on their individual positions on each of the questions we have posed.

We have attempted to include as many topics as possible, however, if there are other issues or if something extraordinary comes up during the course of the election, then we would expect to hear the positions of the parties on those items as well.

The responses will serve to assist Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in making an informed decision as Election Day approaches.

I am pleased today to table the letter here in the House of Assembly.

I wish all candidates the very best in the election which started in earnest this morning, and I look forward to hearing from candidates and leaders on issues of importance to our province.

2005 11 29                        2:10 p.m.