{"id":45858,"date":"2026-05-15T00:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45858\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T00:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:35:11","slug":"ottawa-could-assist-in-churchill-falls-negotiations-between-quebec-and-newfoundland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45858\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa could assist in Churchill Falls negotiations between Quebec and Newfoundland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Electrical transmission cables connecting to Quebec at the Churchill Falls hydroelectric project in Newfoundland in July 2007. The original Churchill Falls contract was signed in 1969.Greg Locke\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The federal government could facilitate negotiations between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador to clinch a deal on the Churchill Falls energy project, Prime Minister Mark Carney says. <\/p>\n

The two provinces signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding on energy co-operation in December, 2024, vowing to put aside decades of bad blood over the Churchill Falls hydropower station. Both provinces had pledged to invest in and work together on future electricity development worth tens of billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

However, the election of Progressive Conservative Premier Tony Wakeham in Newfoundland last year has largely stalled talks between the two provinces on that effort, and the agreement in principle expired at the end of this April. Mr. Wakeham ordered a review of the MOU by an independent panel of experts that is set to outline their conclusions next Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Opinion: Without Churchill Falls deal, Newfoundland faces a dire fiscal future<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible that the government of Canada can find a solution, or add to the solutions, between the provinces,\u201d Mr. Carney said Thursday during a news conference announcing a national electricity strategy. \u201cWe\u2019re having discussions about that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Under the MOU, negotiated by former premiers Fran\u00e7ois Legault and Andrew Furey, Newfoundland would win significantly more revenue for power generated from the existing Churchill Falls station. It would also clinch a partner \u2013 Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec \u2013 with deep pockets and technical know-how for three new production projects along Labrador\u2019s Churchill River. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Then-Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Andrew Furey, then-Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador sign a memorandum of understanding in St. John’s in December, 2024.Paul Daly\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Quebec would secure a key source of electricity at a time when its electricity surpluses have dwindled. Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s export volumes fell for the fourth straight year in 2025, as the government-owned utility dealt with a drop in its northern water reservoirs that it hasn\u2019t experienced since the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Christine Fr\u00e9chette, who replaced Mr. Legault as Premier earlier this year, has said Ottawa is keen on the two provinces cementing a deal. \u201cThey can help us make sure that this agreement will be signed in the coming weeks or coming months,\u201d she told reporters last month. <\/p>\n

How Quebec and Newfoundland overcame a century of hurt to reach a new deal on Churchill Falls<\/a><\/p>\n

The original Churchill Falls contract was signed in 1969. Under the current contract, Quebec purchases about 4,800 megawatts of power from the station at 0.2 cents a kilowatt-hour. That\u2019s a fraction of the energy\u2019s market value, which Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec resells for multiple times more.<\/p>\n

Newfoundland previously launched a legal bid to reopen the contract, but the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the challenge in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Electrical transmission cables connecting to Quebec at the Churchill Falls hydroelectric project in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,61,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-45858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-ottawa","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}