Canada will guarantee loans to support a $6.2-billion hydroelectric project in a remote part of Labrador that will supply power to New England as well as neighbouring Canadian provinces, the government said on Friday.
Energy service provider Emera, which will invest $1.8 billion, and engineering group SNC-Lavalin Group will participate in the project, located at Lower Churchill Falls near Labrador’s border with Quebec.
The federal government had earlier promised to back the project despite objections by Quebec’s provincial government. The French-speaking province has a virtual monopoly on power transmission from the region to the lucrative US market.
Federal ministers on Friday signed a preliminary agreement on the loan guarantee with the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and neighbouring Nova Scotia, through which the transmission lines will be taken.
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