RUSTAD: The prosperity this one project will bring, to so many families, will be remarkable; especially for First Nations trying to build economic activity, and move away from managing poverty

MLA John Rustad -- Nechako Lake riding

The announcement by LNG Canada to invest $40 billion in an LNG facility in Kitimat, an associated pipeline and upstream extraction, and infrastructure, will be the largest private sector investment in Canadian History.

All of this is well covered, but perhaps here is a bit more of the story.

The natural gas industry in BC was on the ropes. Investment was still healthy but with the incredibly low gas prices, coupled with the massive growth in production in the USA, we were quickly losing our market for our gas. LNG is the lifeline needed to re-energize our natural gas industry.

Around the world, LNG companies tend to move in packs. Once one project goes ahead, suddenly everyone else in interested in doing something -- if the math works for one, it works for all. What this means is that BC should expect additional LNG investment decisions in the next 5 years.  It also means the BC Liberal vision for this new industry in BC is now on its way.

The next likely projects, in British Columbia, will be Woodfibre (small LNG project in Squamish) followed by either a Chevron / Woodside project in Kitimat, or perhaps Exxon Mobil in Prince Rupert. There are several others that could move, but these seem to be the more likely ones. Another project of note is Steelhead LNG on Vancouver Island.

So, in reality, what does this first LNG project mean for BC and in particular Northern BC?

First, over the life of the project it will generate about $22 billion in tax revenue. Government will share about $500 million in benefits with the local First Nations through more than 25 agreements over the life of the project. There should be about 4,000 construction jobs, and the beginning of entirely new types of jobs that currently don’t exist in BC.

The prosperity this one project will bring, to so many families, will be remarkable; especially for First Nations trying to build economic activity, and move away from managing poverty.

While the positives of this announcement will be long lasting for BC, there are a couple of hurdles that still need to be overcome.  American funded environmental groups are challenging the approvals in court, to try and delay and frustrate the project.  These American funded environmental groups have then used that money to fund a small group of indigenous people who have set up a camp, and blockade, in an attempt to prevent the gas pipeline being built.

At signing of the agreement with Kitselas First Nation. The

agreement ensures they receive direct benefits from the

construction and operation of liquefied natural gas (LNG)

export facilities on BC’s north coast ~~ March 2017

This will be a real test for the NDP government. Will they fight to support this project, or step back and leave industry and the people of BC to fight without their support?

I spent the better part of 4 years working with this as my top priority, breaking new ground with First Nations, and building the support necessary to see a project like this succeed. Christy Clark was relentless and in the words of LNG Canada, they had never seen any government around the world fight as hard as our government did to support LNG. Rich Coleman and many others in our government put enormous effort towards this.

It’s great to see all of that effort now come to fruition, concluding with an announcement many years in the making.

Now, let’s just hope that our current government has the courage to make sure this project doesn’t get derailed by these special interest groups.

John Rustad worked in the forest industry in logging and forest management. He started and operated Western Geographic Information Systems Inc. from 1995 to 2002 where he was engaged in forestry consulting. 

John was first elected to the BC Legislature in 2005 and was re-elected in 2009, 2013 and 2017. He served in various capacities including parliamentary secretary for Silviculture, parliamentary secretary for Forests, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation and Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. 

He is currently the critic for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development.