After years of negotiations and an independent review, Quebec and Newfoundland are announcing a non-binding deal on the Churchill Falls project.
Quebec Premier Christine Frechette and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham announced the agreement on Monday.
They were joined by Prime Minister Mark Carney, provincial ministers and Hydro-Quebec president and CEO Claundine Bouchard.
“We are finally turning the page on one of the darkest chapters in our past and replacing both the notorious the August 1969 Churchill Falls Agreement and the 2024 MOU, with a better deal for all of us,” said Wakeham.
The negotiations have surrounded a deal for Hydro-Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to share energy from the Churchill River in Labrador.
Both utilities jointly own the Churchill Falls generating station in Labrador, which is laid out in a pact signed in 1969 that was set to expire in 2041.
Under the new agreement announced Monday, Quebec would have a guaranteed supply of electricity from Churchill Falls until 2077. The agreement effectively terminates and replaces the original 1969 deal.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
The federal government said it is providing $10 billion in federal financing to upgrade and expand the existing 5,428 megawatt (MW) generating station, develop a 2,700 MW Gull Island hydroelectricity project, build associated transmission lines, and unlock co-investment opportunities with the Innu of Labrador in a major new Labrador onshore wind project.
Quebec’s utility says about 6,915 MW would be received from both Churchill Falls and the potential Gull Island station, with another 3,850MW bookmarked for studying new projects including a wind farm in Labrador a hydroelectric facility in Churchill Falls. It would amount to a total of about 10,000 MW for Quebec, though the federal government notes the project would generate 14,000 MW in total.
Speaking at a news conference in St. John’s, Wakeham told attendees that his province would be able to retain an additional 360 MW from Churchill Falls at Gull Island. Another 400 MW will be accessed from the planned wind power at Churchill Falls. It amounts to a total of 2,750 MW for the province, “a full 760 megawatts” more than under the 2024 memoradum of understanding.
“The opportunity is enormous and this number does not include any power from the Churchill Falls expansion,” Wakeham added.
Two years ago, the provinces unveiled a framework agreement to end the 1969 deal and established a new arrangement to share energy and expand the Churchill River’s generating capacity.
But after Wakeham’s Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in the 2025 election, the premier subjected the deal to an independent review. He also sent a negotiating team back to the bargaining table with Quebec in June, looking for what he described as more power, more value and permission to transmit power from Labrador through Quebec to export markets.
For Quebec, the deal could ensure it has the megawatts it needs to meet the province’s growing electricity demand through 2075.
Currently, Hydro-Québec purchases electricity from the Churchill Falls plant at 0.2 cents per kilowatt hour to resell it at a higher price. The draft agreement signed in 2024 stipulated that Hydro-Québec would gradually increase the rate until 2075, reaching an effective average price of 5.9 cents per kilowatt hour — 30 times the current price.
According to documents provided by Hydro-Quebec, the utility would pay more for power at the plant, beginning at 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour in 2027. It would increase, averaging out to an effective price of 7.4 cents per kilowatt hour over the next 50 years.
Negotiators are hoping to hammer out a final deal by the end of this year.
More to come…
— with files from The Canadian Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.