Ontario and Quebec sign hydroelectricity deal

On Thursday 15 December 2016, Canadian provinces, Quebec and Ontario, signed a new deal of CAD$1billion per year for hydroelectricity.

The deal was announced last October and Philippe Couillard, Premier of Quebec and Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, met for the official ceremony yesterday to sign it.

According to the contract, Ontario can import up to two terawatt hours of electricity generated from hydropower every year for seven years from Quebec – enough to power 200,000 people.

The deal will allow CAD$70 million of savings for Ontario and will help to reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions per year by one million tonnes, according to Wyne.

This agreement will be a blueprint for future energy contracts between Quebec and other provinces, according to Couillard.

Ontario has announced it will install a cap-and-trade carbon market from next January, following the example of Quebec and California.