The Atlantic Accord functions in Newfoundland and Labrador politics in two ways. There is the agreement between the Government of Canada and the provincial government that established the joint management framework for the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore. At the same time, there is the political prop and the associated mythology that has, in largest measure, replaced the actual agreement in both the popular and political/bureaucratic understanding of it.Neither the 2005 nor 2019 federal-provincial agreements commonly referred to as the Atlantic Accord or revised Atlantic Accord had anything to do with development and management of the oil and gas resources offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. Neither changed the 1985 agreement directly or indirectly.
The widely-held
belief is completely different. The popular misconception comes from the fact
that in both cases, the premiers faced with financial difficulties linked their
demands for money from Ottawa to the Atlantic Accord. In both cases, the issues
were about something else. In 2005, the
discussion was actually about Equalization. It 2019, the final agreement was
about financial assistance for the provincial government about its own
financial difficulties and to deal with the troubled Muskrat Falls project.
