Skeena MLA Ellis Ross said on Monday night that the B.C. Liberals would probably vote in support of LNG Canada going ahead to avoid a possible deadlock by the B.C. Green Party in the B.C. legislature.
He was responding to a comment made by Green’s leader Andrew Weaver earlier on Monday night that the party doesn’t support the decision and that the NDP would have to “work with the B.C. Liberal MLAs if they want this project to go forward.”
“I am confident the B.C. Liberals will vote in support as long as the deal that the NDP has struck is beneficial to British Columbians,” said Ross.
Weaver said he was disappointed that the NDP had supported LNG Canada in it’s bid to announce a positive FID.
He said in opposition, the NDP were outspoken critics of the Liberal’s LNG regime, “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.”
He said it was sad to see the NDP, “who had once professed to champion climate action and a hopeful vision for the future, instead succumb to the temptation of short-sighted political wins.”
He said the NDP minority government’s tax giveaway had “resulted in the country’s single biggest source of emissions receiving an FID.”
“Adding such a massive new source of greenhouse gases means that the rest of our economy will have to make even more sacrifices to meet our climate targets,” said Weaver.
“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.”
He said a significant portion of the LNG Canada investment will be spent on a plant manufactured overseas, with steel sourced from other countries.
Weaver added that B.C. taxpayers would also end up subsidizing LNG Canada’s power by paying rates twice as high and taking on the enormous public debt required to build Site C.
