PREMIER John Horgan will join LNG Canada as it announces a historic investment in British Columbia on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at Vancouver Pacific Rim Hotel, according to an announcement by the Premier’s Office.
Meanwhile, BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver, responding to the news that the LNG Canada project has received a positive final investment decision (FID), said in a statement: “I am deeply disappointed that the NDP minority government’s tax giveaway has resulted in the country’s single biggest source of emissions receiving an FID.”
He added: “Adding such a massive new source of GhGs means that the rest of our economy will have to make even more sacrifices to meet our climate targets. A significant portion of the LNG Canada investment will be spent on a plant manufactured overseas, with steel sourced from other countries. B.C. taxpayers will subsidize its power by paying rates twice as high and taking on the enormous public debt required to build Site C. There may be as little as 100 permanent jobs at LNG Canada. I believe we can create far more jobs in other industries that won’t drastically increase our emissions.
“In opposition, the NDP were outspoken critics of the Liberal’s LNG regime, then rightly noting that it did not amount to a fair value for our resource and that the emissions were too high. Our Caucus was shocked when they turned around and delivered an even larger giveaway once in power. We did everything we could to deter them from making this decision, but we are only three MLAs up against the 84 whose parties support the heavy subsidization of this industry.
“It breaks my heart that the young people of today must watch as politicians who once professed to champion climate action and a hopeful vision for the future instead succumb to the temptation of short-sighted political wins. Young people deserve better and our Party will keep fighting for them.
“Our Caucus has been clear that we do not support the government’s LNG regime. The government does not have our votes to implement this regime and will have to work with the B.C. Liberal MLAs if they want this project to go forward.
“Despite our profound disappointment on this issue, we have been working closely in good faith with the government to develop a Clean Growth Strategy to aggressively reduce emissions and electrify our economy. The B.C. NDP campaigned to implement a plan to meet our targets and reaffirmed that promise in our Confidence and Supply Agreement. We will hold them to account on this. We will have more to say once that plan becomes public later this year.”
