The Prime Minister will join Premier Tony Wakeham and Quebec Premier Christine Frechette as the details of a much-anticipated new agreement on the Upper Churchill are announced in St. John’s this afternoon.
VOCM News has learned that part of the announcement will include what’s being called a 15 per cent Churchill River Electricity Rebate for consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador.
What that will look like, and how it is being achieved remain to be seen. It’s also not clear whether the provincial government will take the new agreement to the public for a referendum.
Furey famously rips apart a copy of the original Churchill Falls agreement with Quebec. (VOCM News)
The former Liberal government announced an “historic” Memorandum of Understanding had been reached with Quebec in December of 2024, with former Premier Andrew Furey famously ripping the contentious 1969 deal in two.
The PCs questioned whether the MOU was the best deal possible for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and campaigned on that issue in the last provincial election, gaining victory over the Liberals, and launching a renewed negotiation process.
Word that a new deal had been reached broke in the Quebec media last week, with La Presse reporting that Ottawa played a “facilitating role” in bringing it to the finish line. La Presse says hydro production capacity will be greater, but that the rest of the original MOU remains largely the same.
Details of the new agreement will be announced in St. John’s today at 1:45, and will be carried live on the VOCM-Big Land FM Radio Network.
Williams Not Privy to What New Agreement Entails
Danny Williams (VOCM News)
Former premier Danny Williams, who previously took credit for halting the former MOU, says he was “not involved in any capacity” in the current negotiations on the Upper Churchill agreement.
Williams famously declared earlier this year that stopping the former MOU was one of his “single greatest achievements.”
He accused the former Liberal government of being “bamboozled” by Quebec and issued a list of specific concerns related to the previous Memorandum of Understanding that needed to be addressed.
In a statement issued to VOCM News, Williams says he has no knowledge of what a new agreement might entail, and that his position on any agreement is on the record through his submission to the review panel which re-examined the MOU.
