Quebec premier hopeful despite looming termination of draft Labrador energy deal

Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette says she remains hopeful that Newfoundland and Labrador will proceed with a proposed joint energy agreement, though it is set to expire this week.

A committee appointed by the Progressive Conservative Newfoundland and Labrador government is expected to deliver its review of the draft deal on Thursday.

That’s the same day the deal is set to “terminate” unless its signatories — Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, Hydro-Québec and the joint company they share to operate the Churchill Falls plant in Labrador — agree to extend it, or sign final agreements, according to the document.

“I hope that the report will conclude that it’s a fair and beneficial deal for Quebec and for Newfoundland,” Fréchette said Monday evening during an official visit to Washington, D.C.

Lynn St-Laurent, a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec, said despite the deadline, “nothing prevents the parties from continuing discussions afterward to reach an agreement.”

The agreement’s looming expiry date lit up the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature last week. The Opposition Liberals repeatedly questioned Premier Tony Wakeham about what will happen when and if the clock runs out.

“I can tell you the premier of Quebec is not obsessed with the April 30 deadline. I told her I’d be reaching out to her after we get the independent review,” Wakeham said in the legislature last week.

Wakeham said he was unconcerned about the deadline and focused on securing the best possible arrangement for his province.

The Liberals announced the deal in 2024, when they were still in power. Former Liberal premier Andrew Furey sat beside former Quebec premier Francois Legault in St. John’s, dramatically tearing up a copy of a contract signed in 1969 that allows Hydro-Québec to purchase power from Churchill Falls for prices far below market value.

The new arrangement would end the 1969 contract 16 years early and see Hydro-Québec pay more for Churchill Falls power. It also proposes that Hydro-Québec manage new projects alongside Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to expand the Churchill River’s hydroelectric capacity.

The Liberals have said the deal would bring about $225 billion to Newfoundland and Labrador. The Progressive Conservatives, who unseated the Liberals in the October provincial election, have been skeptical.

Wakeham appointed a three-person panel in December to determine if the non-binding agreement best served his province, and if it would deliver the money the Liberals promised. He has also promised to subject any final agreements to a public referendum.

In a fundraising email last year, Wakeham said he would use the panel’s review to “demand better terms for Newfoundland and Labrador.”

“Our (Progressive Conservative) government will use the results of the review to renegotiate areas that need to be strengthened,” his email said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2026.

— With files from Patrice Bergeron in Washington, D.C.