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Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

Canada as seen through the Eyes of New Brunswick Editorial Cartoonists:
The Insight and Humour of Josh Beutel and Bill Hogan

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Offshore Oil
Josh Beutel, Telegraph Journal, 1982-2-17 Reference number: MC2806-895

Scope and Content
The dispute over off-shore oil revenue is condensed to threats between Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Brian Peckford.

Title
Offshore Oil

Caption
"I'll cut your seal quotas …" "I'll cut off screech exports..."

Issues
Hibernia oil field
Hibernia is a petroleum field located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. Although the field had been the subject of exploratory drilling since the 1960s, it was in the late 1980s that the Canadian federal government and several partner oil companies (primarily Petro Canada, which was then a crown corporation) committed to develop the oil and gas resources of the Hibernia oil field. A GBS (Gravity Based System) drilling platform was erected on the site, and production began on November 17, 1997. The resulting pressure to find more offshore oil resources led Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to seek federal arbitration to define the disputed offshore boundary between the two provinces.


Persons
Brian Peckford
- Born Alfred Brian Peckford, August 27, 1942
- Progressive Conservative
- First elected to the Newfoundland House of Assembly, 1972
- Newfoundland Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing under Premier Frank D. Moores
- As Minister of Mines and Energy, argued with government over control of Hibernia Oil Fields
- Won PC Party leadership succeeding Moores as Premier of Newfoundland, 1979
- Focused on the issue of ownership and control of natural resources
- Argued with Pierre Trudeau for more provincial rights
- Supporter of Meech Lake and Canada-US Free Trade Agreement
- Left politics in 1989
Pierre Trudeau
- Born Pierre Elliott Trudeau, October 18, 1919
- Died September 28, 2000
- Liberal
- Prime Minister of Canada, April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979 and March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984
- Opponent of Quebec nationalism
- Touted as “The Hero of English Canada”
- Seen as a very charismatic figure
- Invoked the War Measures Act during the October Crisis, 1970
- Answered, "Just watch me." when asked how far he would go to stop terrorists
- Implemented official bilingualism in his first years in office
- Instituted Wage and Price Controls, 1979
- Established diplomatic relationship with People's Republic of China
- Introduced the National Energy Program (NEP), inflaming "Western alienation"
- Repatriated the Canadian Constitution after a long and difficult struggle with premiers and threatening to go to London alone, 1984
- Stepped down as Prime Minister, 1984
- Later spoke out against the Meech Lake Accord and Charlottetown Accord

4.11.1