{"id":640213,"date":"2026-05-01T06:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/640213\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T06:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:37:13","slug":"independent-review-of-churchill-falls-mou-has-been-delivered-to-n-l-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/640213\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent review of Churchill Falls MOU has been delivered to N.L. government"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Progressive Conservatives\u2019 self-imposed deadline for an independent review of the Churchill Falls memorandum of understanding has arrived.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Newfoundland and Labrador government confirmed it received the report Thursday evening. Premier Tony Wakeham is not certain when the House of Assembly or the public will lay eyes on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody will have an opportunity to see exactly what’s in the report,\u201d Wakeham said Thursday prior to receiving the report. \u201cI can’t \u2026 say exactly what date we\u2019ll release it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wakeham has advocated for a review of the MOU since the previous Liberal government presented it in December 2024. He selected a panel shortly last November, soon after his party formed government.<\/p>\n

Former Emera CEO Chris Huskilson along with economist Guy Holburn and accountant Michael Wilson had four months to look over the non-binding agreement and recommend changes to the PC government before signing an official agreement with Quebec.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wakeham said in November the members were paid and predicted the review would cost $1 million.<\/p>\n

WATCH | The N.L. government now has the Churchill Falls MOU analysis in hand:\"\"<\/p>\n

The Churchill Falls MOU review is done \u2014 and government has the final report in hand<\/p>\n

One of Tony Wakeham\u2019s first orders of business as Newfoundland and Labrador\u2019s premier was to order an independent review of the Churchill Falls memorandum of understanding. He gave a three-person panel four months to give the document a second look, and that deadline has arrived. The CBC\u2019s Terry Roberts reports.<\/p>\n

The province\u2019s Liberal party has been skeptical<\/a> of the review panel since the members were chosen. Holburn and Wilson were on the Liberals\u2019 own MOU oversight committee.<\/p>\n

Wilson quit<\/a> that panel last May, citing concerns about its performance. He was particularly critical of the tentative agreement and said a better deal is possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already know how one person feels about this,\u201d Liberal Leader John Hogan said Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019ll be shocked if they say anything other than what they’ve already commented publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wakeham defended his decision to reporters and said he hasn\u2019t spoken to any members of the committee since giving them the hefty task.<\/p>\n

Hogan said he doesn\u2019t know anything about Wakeham\u2019s relationship with Quebec\u2019s new premier, Christine Fr\u00e9chette, and fears an opportunity could be lost by delaying negotiations further.<\/p>\n

\"AThere are two sides to the Churchill Falls deal. Negotiations will have to be held with Hydro-Quebec, with the province being led by new Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette. (Sylvain Roy Roussel\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The MOU as it stands would see the province take in more than $225 billion over the next 50 years and increase power output on the Churchill River by nearly 4,000 megawatts \u2014 largely powered by the development of the Gull Island hydroelectric project.<\/p>\n

The previous government, along with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and Hydro-Quebec, had committed to signing a deal by April 2026.<\/p>\n

The framework agreement with Hydro-Quebec laid out in the MOU is set to expire at the end of Thursday night. However, Wakeham and his government still fully intend to develop the Churchill River.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we want to get the best deal for Newfoundland and Labradorians. I mean, that’s always been the goal: let’s make sure we maximize the benefit for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador,\u201d Wakeham said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The premier has also promised to put any deal to a public referendum, but said Thursday it\u2019s \u201ctoo early to be talking about referendums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download our\u00a0free CBC News app<\/a>\u00a0to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our\u00a0daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click\u00a0here to visit our landing page<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-640213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}