Former Premier Brian Peckford, who was the first Newfoundland premier to go on a national crusade against the Upper Churchill contract, says Quebec is laughing in their boots—paying a very cheap price for electricity while customers in this province shell out 13 cents kw/h.
Further, he says the MOU on the Churchill River should not have been signed without extensive input from experts, such as the Public Utilities Board.
Peckford is weighing in on the MOU on the eve of a week-long debate in the House of Assembly, which he calls nothing but theatrics on the part of government.
Brian Peckford (File photo.)
He says projects like Gull Island and the twinning of Churchill Falls would have been more attractive to Quebec and a heavier bargaining chip for us the closer the clock ticked to 2041—the year that the current Upper Churchill contract would have expired.
“Quebec saw a weak, available government. They saw it before in the 70s with Frank Moores when I was energy minister,” said Peckford. “Frank Moores tried to negotiate something similar to what Mr. Furey has just done with René Lévesque behind my back. I found out about it at the last minute and had the whole deal scuffled.”
Premier Andrew Furey rips up a copy of the current Upper Churchill contract in December 2023.
Meanwhile, the NDP surveyed the landscape on what people would like to know about the MOU on Churchill Falls last night in St. John’s, and the PCs will take a walk down that lane this afternoon.
Theirs will be a virtual, livestreamed session starting at 4:00 this afternoon.
Leader Tony Wakeham is critical of the process, saying the MOU was signed without any independent reviews or discussion at the House of Assembly.
