The new MOU for further development of Churchill Falls hydro power will be debated in the House of Assembly over the next several days.
But it’s not the only scrutiny that the deal, announced with much fanfare in mid-December, will undergo in the Legislature.
The final, definitive agreements for each aspect of development will also eventually come before the House for debate, says Premier Andrew Furey.
The Legislature opens at 10 a.m. Monday morning for a special debate on the MOU between Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec.
Furey now-famously rips apart a copy of the original Churchill Falls agreement with Quebec. (VOCM News)
Furey explains the process from there.
“If (the MOU) is successful in the House of the Assembly, we’ll advance it to the definitive agreements, and then bring those agreements back to the House,” he said.
“That’s very different than what was done with previous mega-projects but given the scope and nature of this particular deal, from and economic and psychological perspective for the people of the province, it is important and it is the right thing to do.”
Critics of the process so far have pointed to the lack of independent expert oversight on the implications of the agreement.
