Churchill Falls negotiators met 5 times outside N.L. in last year
N.L. Hydro CEO travelled for talks in Nova Scotia and Quebec
Negotiators from Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and Hydro-Québec have met on at least five occasions since formal talks were announced to reopen the Churchill Falls agreement last February.
About a hundred pages of receipts and travel itineraries obtained by CBC/Radio-Canada show N.L. Hydro CEO Jennifer Williams travelled four times to Quebec and once to Nova Scotia for negotiations on the future of the 5,428-megawatt plant on Labrador's Churchill River.
The current deal, signed in 1969, is highly advantageous to Quebec and doesn't expire until 2041, but the Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec governments agreed to talks last February in St. John's.
Quebec Premier François Legault, on the hunt for new sources of renewable energy, says he'll reopen the deal if Newfoundland and Labrador agrees to boost hydroelectricity production on the Churchill River.
Officials first met last March on neutral ground in Nova Scotia, where documents show they took part in two days of "preliminary discussions."
Sixteen negotiators — nine from Newfoundland and Labrador and seven from Quebec — dined together at a Halifax restaurant on March 21, "in an effort for the teams to get to know each other better, thereby enhancing each team's ability to have the most constructive discussions possible."
A receipt dated May 4 shows three of Newfoundland and Labrador's lead negotiators — Williams; Denis Mahoney, the province's deputy minister of justice; and Karl Smith, the former CEO of energy company Fortis — ate at Montreal's Vargas Steakhouse, steps from Hydro-Québec headquarters, while in town for Churchill Falls meetings.
Weeks later, Williams returned to Montreal for "commercial meetings" on July 12.
In September, at the request of Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey, Williams also attended the Annual Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers in Quebec City — a meeting at which Furey first publicly told Legault he should "show us the money."
Williams also travelled to Montreal for meetings in December, according to N.L. Hydro spokesperson Jill Pitcher.
'Active and ongoing' negotiations
Hydro-Québec and N.L. Hydro refused to say whether Quebec's negotiating team travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador for talks.
"We won't be commenting on this topic," wrote Hydro-Québec spokesperson Maxence Huard-Lefebvre in an email in French.
"This is an active and ongoing negotiation process," added Pitcher.
Furey and Legault were photographed together earlier this month while attending a Montreal Canadiens game. While Legault posted the photo to X, formerly known as Twitter, his spokesperson Ewan Sauves said in French that the hockey game was a "personal and private activity." Furey's spokesperson Sonja Pomeroy said the two leaders ran into each other at the game.
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With files from Rob Antle