Governance in Times of Crisis: The Muskrat Falls Case

Grimes’ joint proposal with Quebec was seen to perpetuate many of the contract failings that the Upper Churchill generated, including the lack of power recall, the role of Quebec as sole brokers of the power, along with the lack of transmission of power to the island. [...] The Role of the Public Sector The Premier and NL Government Why did the Muskrat Falls development move forward after half a century of ineffectual approaches towards its development? Success at the provincial level, as the history of Churchill Falls demonstrates, was moving the project forward without the interference of Quebec. [...] In the following section, we will overview the challenges with the Public Utilities Board review, the Environmental Assessment, and the oversight by the Federal government, in particular the Independent Engineer. [...] The explicit responsibility of the Board is that the commission is “responsible for the regulation of the electric utilities in the province to ensure that the rates charged are just and reasonable, and that the service provided is safe and reliable” (Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities n.d.). [...] unable to collect new information) resulted in significant requests for information to the proponent, extending the timeline of the assessment; and 4) There was limited opportunity to examine alternatives to the project and the impact of the project on Indigenous use, particularly given the limited capacity of the Panel to generate new materials or receive materials from the proponent (Doelle 2012.