A Quebec journalist says the ball is in Premier Tony Wakeham’s court in ensuring that a deal is finalized with Quebec on a collaborative approach to hydro development now that Francois Legault has signaled his intention to step down.

Ottawa Bureau Chief with La Presse, Joël-Denis Bellavance, says Legault will step down as leader of his Coalition Avenir once a new leader is picked in April.

He says “the clock is ticking,” and the ball is now in Newfoundland and Labrador’s court with Legault’s pending departure and the strong likelihood of a Parti Quebecois win in the next Quebec provincial election in the fall.

The collaborative approach struck by Legault with former premier Andrew Furey has now made way for a more adversarial one as the Wakeham PCs focus on ensuring the best deal possible for Newfoundland and Labrador, but Bellevance says the deal needs to be finalized before the fall election in Quebec.

While there is widespread support for the deal in Quebec, the Parti Quebecois has made it clear that, if elected, they would rip it up and start again.

He says if the Quebec Liberal Party or the CAQ are re-elected, then negotiations would continue, but “if the Parti Quebecois wins the next election…then this is going to be very, very uncertain territory for that deal.”