A Memorial University political scientist is questioning the concept of a referendum on the Churchill Falls MOU.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tony Wakeham last night made a campaign vow not to sign off on the deal with Quebec before a referendum is held.

Amanda Bittner says putting a massive policy issue like a development contract the size of the one currently being finalized will most likely scuttle the deal.

“Referendums are traditionally processes that lead to the maintenance of the status quo” says Bittner. She says if a referendum is held on the deal, the “odds are good that we’re not going to have that Churchill Falls deal.” She says “voters are confused a lot of the time, so putting a really big policy issue like this to voters when we don’t really have information that we would have to make an informed choice in a referendum is not great.”

In the meantime, Bittner says the parties need to provide more information on whether or not they support the deal and why, “so that voters can actually make a choice.”

She says some are saying this election is already a referendum on the MOU, which may be the case for some voters, “it’s definitely a big issue that we should talk about, with long-term consequences for the province. And we don’t have a good track record of making good decisions on mega-projects.”

“I mean Muskrat Falls has not been good for us, and we didn’t really get a say on that and that was pumped through, so there’s a lot of legacy issues that we need to deal with, we don’t want to do that again, so voters need information…and so far nobody’s giving us information that we need.”