The premier is in the process of establishing an oversight process for the negotiations that will lead to definitive agreements on Churchill Falls.

Dan Levert, the chair of the committee that oversaw the last round of negotiations, took questions for two hours this morning in the legislature.

While Levert states that that the committee’s role in the process has now ended, Tony Wakeham says he is in the process of setting up an oversight mechanism for the new round of negotiations that are ongoing.

He says a new “oversight plan” will be created, noting that he has spoken with each member of the former committee and they have all agreed to continue on in the new format.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties are not happy about the oversight given to the last round of negotiations after listening to Levert’s testimony.

Liberal leader John Hogan says the committee and negotiating team were appointed by the premier, and the advisors the spoke with were the ones retained by government.

He says there was no “challenge function” for the oversight committee. He points to market-based pricing being dropped from the deal, saying that the committee couldn’t hear differing opinions on that because they were only hearing from government’s team. “So if you hear from one side, you’re going to side with them and there is no independent oversight.”

NDP leader Jim Dinn believes the committee had too narrow of a focus.

He says they were more focused on the process, rather than looking at if government’s strategy of assumptions were correct.