A former premier says Newfoundland and Labrador will become the laughing stock of the country if it doesn’t tear up the MOU with Quebec on hydro development in Labrador.

Danny Williams says the tentative deal is the Upper Churchill all over again. That 70-year agreement gave Quebec virtually all of the profit with no escalator clause.

Williams has found numerous faults with the arrangement, including the failure to win the right to wheel power through our neighbouring province, a situation which created the Upper Churchill mess in the first place. As well, they will sell the power for several times more than the purchase price from Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

The former PC premier says the development of Gull Island should have been a separate entity from the Upper Churchill.

He acknowledges that employment at Gull will be very important, but the Upper Churchill is the crown jewel in our assets and we have waited 56 years with 15 left on the contract.

Williams would rather see the MOU ripped up as “with every year that passes, our leverage grows.”