Photo: The Canadian Press

Then-premier Kathy Dunderdale had a dismissive air when she rose in the legislature on Dec. 18, 2012, to answer another opposition question on Muskrat Falls.

Her Progressive Conservative government had just sanctioned the $7.7-billion hydro project, the largest publicly funded venture in Newfoundland and Labrador's history.

It was a heady time for a province of 530,000 people — about the same as the Toronto suburb of Brampton — which was flush with oil riches and ambition. And a week before Christmas 2012, Dunderdale had little patience for skepticism.

"Mr. Speaker, this is a well-planned project," she said.

One former provincial economist called Muskrat Falls a high-stakes gamble based on "voodoo economics." Even Public Utilities Board reviewers said they hadn't been given enough information to form an opinion about it.

No matter. The 824-megawatt development — which this month became a national flashpoint for indigenous rights — was touted as the cheapest option for required power, and Dunderdale was confident of success.

"We have imagined every scenario, everything that could possibly go wrong, and we have a remedy in case it does," she said.

Supporters said the dam and powerhouse on the lower Churchill River near Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador would free the province from volatile, oil-fired energy costs. Moreover, the joint deal with private utility Emera would bring power to the island of Newfoundland and then on to Nova Scotia, turning the region into a renewable energy powerhouse.

Dunderdale's famously aggressive predecessor, Danny Williams, first championed the plan just before retiring from politics in late 2010. Muskrat Falls, he said at the time, would harness the province's hydro potential while bypassing transmission hurdles through Quebec.

"Quebec will no longer determine the fate of Newfoundland and Labrador and one of the most attractive, clean energy projects in North America," Williams said at the time.

Muskrat Falls was supposed to help ease the sting of a feud that has simmered in and out of court between the neighbouring provinces since the woefully lopsided Churchill Falls deal of 1969, which has seen Quebec reap more than $26 billion in profits, versus about $2 billion for Newfoundland and Labrador.