Cabot Martin, one of the architects of the Atlantic Accord, has died. Martin served as a legal advisor to the provincial government in the 1970s and as a senior policy advisor to Premier Brian Peckford in the 1980s. Many of Martin’s legal arguments laid the groundwork for the modern offshore industry in the province and the joint management of the resource by Newfoundland and Labrador with the federal government. He has remained publicly active in the province in recent years as a staunch opponent of the Muskrat Falls project. Martin died on Friday. He was 78 years old. As an adviser to the Peckford government, Martin pushed for local management of the offshore oil industry. “Maybe fewer people would have bent, but Cabot didn’t,” recalled former premier Tom Rideout. (CBC) Tom Rideout remembers Martin not only as one of the architects of the Atlantic Accord, but as the driving force behind it. “The screws were tightened in Newfoundland to get out of our position of being the owners,” Rideout said. The former prime minister said the Pierre Trudeau government of the 1970s and 1980s did not want Newfoundland and Labrador to have control of offshore oil and at the time had a Supreme Court decision to back up its claim. Ron Penny was deputy minister at the time. He said Martin was unwavering in his claim that the province owned the resource. “It was very, very difficult. Negotiations. Cabot, he was a brilliant partner with a background in both law and geology. So he really brought a lot to the process.” Cabot Martin was one of our province’s brightest minds, helping to negotiate the 1985 Atlantic Accord and the Hibernia Agreement, the foundations of our economy.
Cabot died today. He was a friend of my father and my godfather, Frank Ryan.
May he rest in peace. —@SeamusORegan Rideout said it was Cabot Martin who advised the provincial government, wrote the documents and fought for control alongside Premier Brian Peckford. “That was our vision. And Cabot Martin was the driver of that. You know, maybe fewer people would have bent, but Cabot didn’t. Then Peckford and the government, I think to their credit, took his advice and didn’t they did. buckle.” Cabot Martin, author of Muskrat Madness, was one of the earliest and strongest opponents of the Muskrat Falls project. (CBC) Martin continued his staunch streak in recent years as a strong opponent of the Muskrat Falls project, particularly regarding the potential for landslides along the controversial North Spur, speaking out against the project’s dangers and writing the book “Muskrat Madness.” He was also a regular contributor to the Uncle Gnarley blog, commenting on developments in the local industry. His most recent entry, discussing plans for wind turbines and hydrogen production on the west coast of Newfoundland, was published just four days before his death. In it, he questions the environmental impact of the proposed projects and, as he has always done, warns of the dangers of separating Newfoundland and Labrador’s resources from the people who live there: “Environmental assessment is not just a set of regulations that require the collection of information,” Martin said, “but it is also essentially a democratic process in which the public has a right to be informed and to participate – and to be taken seriously.” As for his legacy, Tom Rideout said Martin’s work directly led to an improvement in the quality of life for people in the province. “Those of us who know him know how hard he worked to make sure we didn’t trip,” Rideout said, “I mean, it’s easy for politicians and non-Cabot people to trip.” “He spent a lot of time keeping us all on the straight and narrow and making sure we didn’t lose focus or vision.” Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador