Quebec’s Energy minister says she hopes the Churchill Falls MOU will be “preserved” and finalized as-is.

Christine Fréchette described the deal as an “interesting balance” for the two provinces, but added any changes sought by this province will be met with changes of their own.

She made the comments today during the annual meeting of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers in St. John’s.

Fréchette was asked how her government feels about Premier Tony Wakeham’s plans for an independent review and public referendum on the deal, which has a deadline of next April.

“From our point of view the current agreement offers an interesting balance, and a balance that must be preserved,” she said. “And so if there is some will on NL’s side for bringing some changes, we will be bringing demand for changes as well on our side.”

Asked if the MOU and project was discussed with Quebec today, Wakeham said no, without elaborating.

However, Frechette later revealed that a meeting was planned to discuss the MOU after the news conference.

There’s no word yet on how that went.