Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador ready to sign Churchill Falls energy deal [Video]

The premiers of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador say they are ready to sign an energy agreement that would end a long-running dispute over the Churchill Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.

Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters in Quebec City on Wednesday he plans to be in St. John’s, N.L., Thursday to announce the agreement alongside Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey.

Quebec gets about 15 per cent of its energy from Churchill Falls through a deal signed with Newfoundland and Labrador in 1969 that is widely seen as lopsided in favour of Quebec.

The current arrangement allows Hydro-Quebec to purchase 85 per cent of the electricity generated at the station for 0.2 cents per kilowatt hour — a price Furey has described as “essentially free.”

During a visit to St. John’s last year, Legault acknowledged it was a “bad deal” for Canada’s easternmost province but stopped short of agreeing …