Quebec’s Electricity Ambitions Reopen Old Wounds in Newfoundland and Labrador

As Quebec prepares to ramp up electricity production to meet its ambitious economic goals, the government is trying to extend a power deal that has caused decades of resentment in Newfoundland and Labrador. Around 15 percent of Quebec’s electricity comes from the Churchill Falls dam in Labrador, through a deal set to expire in 2041 that is widely seen as unfair. Quebec Premier François Legault not only wants to extend the agreement, he wants another dam on the Churchill River to help make his province what he has called a “world leader for the green economy.” But renewing that contract “won’t be easy,” Normand Mousseau, scientific director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montréal, said in a recent interview. Extending the Churchill Falls deal is not essential to meet Quebec’s energy plans, but without it, Mr. Mousseau said, “we would have some problems.”...