A Dalhousie political scientist believes “it was in everyone’s interest” to get a renegotiated Churchill Falls agreement before the next provincial election in Quebec.

Lori Turnbull says the outcome of a Quebec election is unknown, and there is too much uncertainty if a deal is not finalized before then.

“A minority government is possible, a PQ minority is definitely possible, and so that just throws everything up in the air. So I think it was definitely in everyone’s interest to get this sorted out now.”

The federal government was reportedly pushing for the deal.

“They’ve managed to avoid a kind of zero-sum game situation” says Turnbull, “where one province does better, but the other province loses. That would have been bad, and I think that wouldn’t have lasted and it just would have been a mess. So now, if both provinces are able to get access to more energy, he ends up being able to come home with a win, and then the Quebec premier is able to do the same.”

Listen to “Lori Turnbull, Associate Professor at Dalhousie University” on Spreaker.