Furey defends luxury trip to lodge owned by a friend a billionaire with a hydrogen plan for Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador's PC Opposition is questioningAndrew Furey'sjudgment over the premier's stay at a luxury lodge owned by the billionaire behind a controversial hydrogen plant proposal in western Newfoundland.

As first reported by the online news organization allNewfoundlandLabrador, Furey and his father Senate Speaker George Furey stayed at the Rifflin' Hitch Lodge as part of a posh fishing trip in July 2021.

The resort is owned by John Risley, a friend of the premier and the chairman of World Energy GH2, a company looking to set up a wind-powered hydrogen-ammonia plant on the Port au Port Peninsula.

Another of Furey's personal friends, Brendan Paddick, is also a director of the company.

The project, which is now in the environmental assessment stage, includes 164 wind turbinesand would not have been able to proceed without the province lifting its moratorium on land-based wind power.

That happened in April, but in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, acting Opposition leader Barry Petten said documents obtained through access-to-information laws show discussions about lifting the moratorium began in September 2021 a few months after Furey's visit to Risley's lodge.

According to the allNewfoundlandLabrador report, Risley was there for part of Furey's visit.

"The premier spends days with a billionaire donor who's leading a wind development project in a luxury cabin, and he expects people of the province to believe that wind energy did not come up once. Three months later, public servants start talking about removing the wind moratorium in our province," Petten said during question period.

"Is this where the deal was struck or is this the biggest coincidence in Newfoundland and Labrador history?" he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Furey asked where the line is between his personal and public life.

"Everybody's been critical of me from Day 1," he said. "About first my charitable work, then me practising medicine, and now about what I do on my vacation time. Like, we need to we need to have some respect for public figures here in their own personal time."

He also defended his trip, saying he paid for ithimself, and the topic of wind farms and hydrogen plants didn't come up during his stay at Risley's lodge.

"I've never made a secret of the friends that I have," he said. "Some of them are very successful, and I take great fortune in having those friendships. But I don't discuss confidential business of government with them, and I've taken the extra step of having ethical walls set up."

Those ethical walls, said Furey, mean that Industry, Energy and Technology Minister Andrew Parsons is handling the file.

• World Energy GH2 offers $10M to Port au Port communities if wind project goes ahead
• N.L. energy minister intends to avoid 'screwups' with wind energy

Furey said no decisions related to the project will come across his desk.

Petten said it's a question of perception.

"Unfortunately, with his job it's about choices and decisions. The optics and we live in a world of optics and I just think that that wasn't a good choice."

Parsons, who answered all but one of the House questions instead of Furey, said he's "not sure where the patronage is in this conversation."

"No one has been approved for absolutely anything at this point," he said.

The Port au Port proposal is the only project in the environmental assessment stage right now. Parsons said the government has received 31 land submission nominations so far. By Dec. 15 he said the government will identify which areas they want to open up, and the bidding process would begin early next year.

Last week, when talking to CBC News about offering $10 million to Port au Port communities if the project goes ahead, Risley said he doesn't "think there's any question that the project will get approval."

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