Newfoundlanders like Quebecers, even if they do not hold Quebec in their hearts. We can easily understand them. At a time when Newfoundland’s economy was essentially based on fishing, and well before the exploitation of oil deposits in the Atlantic, the province was not as versed as its neighbor in matters of large hydro projects -electric, nor as smart in finance. In the 1969 contract, Newfoundland ceded almost all of the energy produced at Churchill Falls for almost eternity (i.e. until 2041) at ridiculously low prices. Quebec thus took advantage of the naivety of its partner who committed for such a long period, without including in the contract the slightest adaptation mechanism to deal with the changes that would inevitably occur.
When it became clear, with the rise in energy prices starting in the 1970s, that they had been screwed, the Newfoundlanders made repeated attempts to reopen the contract. Quebec’s response, supported by the legalistic rigor of the courts, was always the same: “no, no, no, you signed, it’s final, endure until the deadline.” Elvis Gratton, a great admirer of the powerful and cunning, could have commented by saying that “the Quebecers, they have it!” »
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