N.L., Quebec to make ‘energy security’ announcement Monday, amid reports of a deal

ST. JOHN’S — The premier of Newfoundland and Labrador will make an announcement with his Quebec counterpart Monday amid reports the two provinces have struck a critical energy deal.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government says Tony Wakeham will welcome Christine Fréchette for “an energy and economic development announcement” in St. John’s on Monday afternoon.

Quebec’s energy minister, Bernard Drainville, and Hydro-Québec president and CEO Claudine Bouchard will also be in attendance, according to a notice sent to the media Saturday evening. As well, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said late Sunday he will be joining the premiers in St. John’s for an energy security announcement.

Officials have been negotiating a deal for Hydro-Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to share energy from the Churchill River in Labrador.

Last week, Montreal-based newspaper La Presse reported they had reached an agreement.

The hydro utilities in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador jointly own the Churchill Falls generating station in Labrador, under a contract signed in 1969 and set to expire in 2041.

The provinces unveiled a framework agreement in 2024 to end the 1969 deal and establish a new arrangement to share energy and expand the Churchill River’s generating capacity.

But when Wakeham was elected last fall, he subjected the draft deal to an independent review and sent a negotiating team back to the bargaining table.

Quebec is counting on the deal to secure the megawatts it needs to meet growing electricity demand through 2075. At a meeting of the country’s premiers last month, Quebec’s Fréchette said she was confident there would be a new deal “in the coming weeks.”

At the time, Wakeham noted the two sides “were making progress” as talks continued.

Then, amid reports last week a deal had been struck, Wakeham’s office said nobody had signed final agreements.

However, a spokesperson for the premier’s office said the province recently made significant progress in its negotiations with Quebec and the government of Canada, without giving more details.

And Hydro-Québec was set to make massive investments to increase production along the Churchill River through partnership projects estimated at over $30 billion.

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.

The tentative deal also proposed a 550-megawatt upgrade to the Churchill Falls facility and a second 1,100-megawatt power house near the existing plant. It also proposed a new 2,250-megawatt power plant downstream at Gull Island.

The existing Churchill Falls plant has a capacity of 5,428 megawatts and supplies about 15 per cent of Hydro-Québec’s electricity.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2026.

— By Eli Ridder in Fredericton, with files from Sarah Smellie, Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman and Patrice Bergeron.