Showdown in Newfoundland and Labrador as leaders spar over Quebec energy deal

ST. JOHN’S — How can Newfoundlanders and Labradorians be sure that a proposed new energy agreement with Hydro-Québec is a good deal?

The question has dogged the province’s Liberals since the tentative deal was revealed in December, and it was a top query in Wednesday’s leaders debate, ahead of the Oct. 14 election.

Liberal Leader and incumbent premier John Hogan insisted the deal is the “backbone for an amazing opportunity for this province, the likes of which we haven’t seen and we will never see again.”

“This deal will change everything,” he said, after suggesting it could be used to balance the provincial budget in the next five years.

Hogan promised to bring any final deals to the legislature where he would allow Liberal members to vote on the agreements freely as individuals, rather than as members toeing a party line.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tony Wakeham said he would ensure the hydroelectric projects outlined in the tentative agreement get built. However, he said any deal he negotiates would be reviewed by an independent panel of experts before it is signed.

“You, sir, are mortgaging the future of Newfoundland and Labrador by rushing to sign a deal with Quebec that clearly has not gone before an independent review,” Wakeham said to Hogan. “I don’t know what you’re hiding. I don’t know why you’re afraid.”

It was one of a few tense moments in an otherwise low-key debate in which the leaders of Newfoundland and Labrador’s three political parties largely responded to questions with lists of campaign promises.

NDP Leader Jim Dinn took swipes at his competitors for releasing their platforms just hours before the debate began. Dinn released his party’s platform last month, claiming he would end years of provincial deficits by slashing spending on oil sector subsidies, travel nurses and privately run shelters.

With a net debt approaching $20 billion in a province about 545,000 people, Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest provincial per capita debt in the country. The province will spend more than a billion dollars this fiscal year on interest and repayment obligations.

In Hogan’s dream for the province, its long pattern of deficits would end in a few years.

“I think ahead to five years from now, we are charting our own course, and we’re the envy of Canada with a balanced budget and no more deficits ever,” he said during his closing remarks.

“I’m standing here tonight because I truly believe the Newfoundland and Labrador dream is right in front of us.”

For Hogan, that dream rests on the continued negotiations with Quebec resulting in binding agreements that deliver the promised cash — about $225 billion over the next 50 years, the Liberals say — laid out in the tentative energy deal.

The memorandum of understanding would see Hydro-Québec pay much more for power from the Churchill Falls plant in Labrador and lead new developments along the Churchill River. It also would also end 16 years early a contract signed in 1969 that has allowed Hydro-Québec to buy the majority of the power from Churchill Falls at rock-bottom prices.

The arrangement has yielded more than $28 billion in profits for Quebec, compared to just a few billion for Newfoundland and Labrador. For some in Canada’s easternmost province, the lopsided agreement has fomented a deep distrust of Quebec.

The leaders also duked it out over health care and the cost of living, with Wakeham joining Dinn in criticizing the Liberals for not signing on to the federal pharmacare program.

Wakeham asked viewers to consider whether their lives had improved after 10 years of a Liberal government.

“Is your health care better?” he asked. “Is it easier for you to make ends meet?”

The Liberals held 19 of 40 seats when the election was called last month, and the Progressive Conservatives held 14. The NDP held one seat alongside two Independents. Four seats were vacant.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2025.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press