The vote on the Churchill Falls agreement will take place in the House of Assembly tonight.
Today is the fourth day of the extraordinary debate on the multi-billion hydro-electric deal.
Over the last three days officials from the negotiating team, oversight committee, federal government, NL Hydro, Power Advisory, and JP Morgan have all had their turn being grilled over the details of the agreement.
Today, each elected member of the House of Assembly will have 10 minutes to give a speech about the deal. That will take up most of the day and is expected to run into the evening.
After that, government will hold Question Period and then the final vote will take place.
That will occur no later than 9 p.m., maybe earlier depending on how quickly the closing remarks wrap up.
Premier: PCs to Vote ‘As a Caucus’
Premier Tony Wakeham (VOCM News)
When the PC caucus votes on the Churchill Falls deal tonight, they will vote “as a caucus,” according to the premier.
When asked earlier this week if it will be a “whipped” vote for the PC caucus – meaning they are told to vote based on what the party wants – premier Wakeham said “(he hasn’t) made any decisions about whipping anybody.”
Opposition leader John Hogan questioned Wakeham about how the party will vote in the legislature last night.
Hogan asked the premier if he would “confirm that Thursday’s vote is a free vote, and that every member of his caucus can vote without fear of repercussions.”
Wakeham replied by saying that “we as a caucus will decide how we will vote.”
The comments from Wakeham come just days after Keith Russell, a former PC MHA, defected from his caucus to sit as an independent ahead of the debate beginning.
