Billions on the line as Newfoundland launches four-month review of Quebec hydro deal

ST. JOHN’S — Newfoundland and Labrador’s new premier launched a review of a major draft energy deal with Hydro-Québec on Monday, promising a three-person panel to investigate whether the agreement best serves the cash-strapped province.

Progressive Conservative Tony Wakeham has been calling for an independent third-party review since the previous Liberal government unveiled the tentative agreement with Hydro-Québec about a year ago.

Negotiating teams had hoped to have final agreements hammered out in April 2026.

However, Wakeham said Monday the review panel will have until the end of that month to finish its work.

He also reiterated his promise to subject any final agreements to a public referendum.

“I’ve turned around and done in six weeks what the previous Liberal government failed to do in almost a year,” Wakeham told reporters in St. John’s, N.L.

“If this had been started last January, instead of what we put in place, we could have had this review done.”

Under the terms of the draft deal, Hydro-Québec would pay more for power from the Churchill Falls plant in Labrador and lead new developments along the Churchill River, in partnership with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

The Liberals have said the new proposed arrangement promises about $225 billion to Newfoundland and Labrador over the next 50 years.

The new arrangement would end an existing contract 16 years early that allows Hydro-Québec to buy the lion’s share of Churchill Falls power for rock-bottom prices and sell it at much higher rates.

Quebec Economy Minister Christine Fréchette has said a defeat for her party, the Coalition Avenir Québec, in next year’s election could jeopardize the new draft deal. Quebecers must vote before October 2026, and Fréchette’s party is lagging in the polls.

Wakeham said he was not concerning himself with the possible outcome of Quebec’s election.

“All I am concerned about are the people in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the future generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,” he said. “This is our resource, let’s develop it with out people for the benefit of our people.”

Wakeham said he plans to meet with Quebec Premier François Legault in the new year.

Chris Huskilson, a former chief executive of Nova Scotia-based power company Emera Inc., will chair the review panel. Its roster also includes former EY executive Michael Wilson, who has criticized the draft deal and said Newfoundland and Labrador could get better terms.

Wilson was part of a panel established by the previous Liberal government to oversee the negotiations of final contracts. He resigned from that group, saying the team’s mandate as interpreted by the Liberals was not wide enough to properly review the contract.

Huskilson said he was not familiar with Wilson’s past opinions “in any detail.” He said the government launched the review under its public inquiry legislation, which empowers the team to operate independently and access what they need to complete their work.

“All three of us are very focused on this being independent and starting with fresh information,” Huskilson said in an interview.

The panel will consider several questions, including whether alternative power markets were considered and whether claims about the agreement’s economic returns were accurate and reasonable.

Ultimately, the panel is tasked with determining if the tentative deal is in the best long-term interests of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, according to the review’s terms of reference.

Four months will be enough time, Huskilson said, “as long as the information is there.”

“We’ll start just as soon as possible,” he said, adding the panel had its first conversation Monday.

“We’ll do as much as we can before Christmas as then move from there.”

Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest net debt per capita among the provinces.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2025.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press