BC government dedicates fall sitting to LNG in Throne Speech

VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – The BC government says it’s time to move forward with its plans to develop a Liquefied Natural Gas industry here or risk losing out.

The Liberals have outlined their priorities for the fall sitting of the Legislature and it’s not a long list.

Bringing in a tax structure and regulations for the LNG industry is really the only priority. OMNI-TV Political Analyst Kim Emerson says this is no surprise at all. But he did notice the Liberals seem to be backing away from the idea that milking this resource will leave the province debt-free.

“Several months ago, when Mike de Jong, the finance minister, was asked about Debt Free BC and the prosperity fund he said at the time that was aspirational. Now, in the Throne Speech when they’re talking about LNG they say this is a chance, not a windfall. So the government seems to be backpedaling somewhat on the prosperity fund, backpedaling on Debt Free BC and trying to bring people’s expectations maybe down to earth a little more,” he explains.

Premier Christy Clark explains this fall will be all about bringing in regulations and a tax structure for the LNG industry. “I felt today, it was really important to get down to the business of what we’re going to do in this session. Get on with it because we’re a government in a hurry. We want to make sure this happens.”

The speech comes the same day energy company Petronas threatened to pull its investment in BC unless the deal can be made more attractive by the end of the month. Clark isn’t worried, and says losing the project won’t sink the entire LNG boat.

“There are other projects that are larger that are also hurdling down the track toward final investment decision. So we’ll see. I don’t want to prejudge which ones will succeed. I’m hoping this one will,” Clark says.

She says slowing down for more environmental study and separate tax systems in different municipalities could stop the industry here before it starts.