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Politicians in Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to vote Thursday on whether they support a new 50-year agreement to share energy from Labrador with Hydro-Québec.
Premier Tony Wakeham opened the legislature this week for a four-day debate about the framework agreement, which includes proposals for more than $50 billion worth of new energy infrastructure along the Churchill River.
The debate began with a bombshell announcement from Labrador member Keith Russell, who said he was leaving the governing Progressive Conservatives to sit as an Independent.
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If all of the Tories stand up in favour of the deal, but none of the Liberals, NDP or Independents do, the resolution to endorse the draft deal could pass by a single vote.
Wakeham told reporters he would still proceed with the agreement in full confidence, even in the event of a razor-thin victory.
Newfoundland and Labrador carries a history of hydroelectric failures, and the government is eager to change course.
Wakeham unveiled the agreement last month in St. John’s, N.L., alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney, who touted it as the “largest clean energy investment in North American history.” The federal government would kick in about $10 billion in financing for several projects pitched in the agreement, including transmission lines and a new power plant at Gull Island.
If the resolution passes, negotiators would keep hammering out final agreements, which they hope to reach by the end of the year.
But opposition politicians spent the past few days sounding the alarm about concerns from pricing structures to a lack of support from the Innu people. The Churchill River cuts through the heart of traditional Innu territory, called Nitassinan, in south-central Labrador.
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