Symbolically at least, it was an apocalyptic week for B.C.’s liquefied natural gas industry.
It started July 26 with the announcement by Malaysian oil and gas giant Petronas that it was cancelling its $36-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert. The company blamed changes in market conditions and prolonged depressed prices, leading to all sorts of speculation that the industry was washed up in B.C., driven out by high taxes, onerous regulations and a new, less business-friendly provincial government. Some saw this as a tragedy, others as a cause for celebration. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver said it was confirmation that “B.C.’s future does not lie in chasing yesterday’s fossil fuel economy.”
Two days later, on July 28, the industry’s foremost champion, cheerleader and prophet of prosperity, former premier Christy Clark, announced she was getting out of Dodge for good, quitting as Liberal party leader and MLA for Kelowna-West. Four years ago Clark was re-elected amid promises of 100,000 jobs in a one-trillion-dollar LNG industry; on the eve of her departure, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation reported her pension would start at $100,000 a year and Elections BC estimated the byelection to replace her would cost taxpayers about half a million. It was always about the numbers, but oh how the numbers had changed.
Then on Aug. 1, Clark’s LNG advocate, former Liberal leader Gordon Wilson, was unceremoniously dumped by the NDP government. It was an ugly firing, with Jobs Minister Bruce Ralston saying Wilson was paid more than $550,000 over four years and that “it’s unclear what he did,” since Wilson did not write reports. Wilson, attempting to defend himself on CKNW Radio, called the whole thing “a rather tawdry defamation campaign” and “a public execution.” He said while he was not hired to write reports, there were “binders of materials on the work that’s been done,” but the NDP had shown no interest in reading them or taking him up on his repeated offers to brief them on his activities.
Despite the stubborn lack of positive final investment decisions on major projects – the modest, $1.6-billion Woodfibre LNG facility near Squamish is generally touted as “most likely to succeed” – Wilson pointed out the industry has spent billions of dollars in the province over the last four years. And some industry analysts remain optimistic that LNG still has a big role to play in B.C.’s economy in the near term; they point to partnerships with First Nations as an indication of that depth of commitment.
Clearly the market will decide.
