Particle.news
Download on the App Store
3 ARTICLES
·
2mo ago

Carney Offers Federal Help to Break Churchill Falls Deadlock

Ottawa’s offer aims to restart negotiations frozen by Newfoundland’s review of a 2024 framework.

Former Quebec premier Francois Legault and Andrew Furey, then premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, sign a memorandum of understanding about Churchill Falls during an announcement in St. John's, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly
Douglas May, an honorary research professor of Economics at Memorial University in St. John’s, NL.
Former Newfoundland premier Joey Smallwood stands near the Churchill River in Labrador before the 1969 Churchill Falls power agreement was signed with Quebec.

Overview

  • Prime Minister Mark Carney said the federal government could help Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador reach a new Churchill Falls agreement.
  • Talks have largely stalled since Progressive Conservative Premier Tony Wakeham paused a December 2024 memorandum of understanding and ordered an independent expert review.
  • Hydro-Québec said it no longer believes making public 1960s records would hurt negotiations, yet the utility has not posted the unredacted documents that a commission ordered it to release.
  • The 1969 contract lets Hydro-Québec buy most Churchill Falls power at about 0.2 cents per kilowatt-hour until 2041, and the plant supplies roughly 15% of Quebec’s electricity.
  • The shelved framework would raise Newfoundland’s share of revenue and enlist Hydro-Québec to build three new Labrador projects, as Quebec looks for firm supply after years of shrinking surpluses and lower exports.