Wakeham sees no PQ move to scrap Churchill Falls deal

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham said Quebec’s incoming premier, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, gave no sign in a phone call that he wants to undo the Churchill Falls energy agreement, even as the deal faces a March 31, 2027 deadline.

Wakeham spoke with St-Pierre Plamondon on Oct. 9, four days after the Parti Québécois won a minority government, according to VOCM. The two discussed health-care access and Churchill Falls.

“I didn’t get any sense from the Quebec Premier that he was interested in tearing anything up or doing anything,” Wakeham said. He added that St-Pierre Plamondon is still in transition and will hear from Hydro-Québec, and that the Quebec leader had texted that the two would talk again soon.

St-Pierre Plamondon listed Churchill Falls among the urgent files when he met outgoing Premier Christine Fréchette in Quebec City on Oct. 13, according to a French-language report on the meeting. He named the economy, relations with the United States, data on certain companies, unemployment and Churchill Falls (translated from French).

He has called the preliminary agreement signed in December 2024 “humiliating for Quebec” (translated from French). During the Quebec campaign he said he would examine the deal carefully but that Quebec had no interest in tearing it up “for the sake of tearing it up” (translated from French).

The Coalition Avenir Québec, which negotiated the deal and has now been voted out, had accused him during the campaign of wanting to scrap it. St-Pierre Plamondon denied that.

Under the framework, Hydro-Québec would invest $45 billion in a new 2,700-megawatt plant at Gull Island, a 1,275-megawatt expansion at Churchill Falls and transmission, with Quebec’s supply guaranteed through 2077, the French-language report said.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s legislature approved the draft deal on Sept. 17 by a vote of 21 to 18 after four days of debate, CP24 reported. The agreement is non-binding, and the proposal expires March 31, 2027. Officials hoped to finalize definitive agreements by the end of 2026.

Wakeham has said he would negotiate with any Quebec government. The Innu Nation urged a no vote in Newfoundland and Labrador, citing disputes with the province and insufficient benefits, and Wakeham has said he intends to meet them.

The Parti Québécois holds 59 of 127 National Assembly seats. St-Pierre Plamondon’s cabinet is to be sworn in on Oct. 21. Neither the premier-designate nor Hydro-Québec has said how the new government will proceed on the deal.

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