In question period today I asked the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources how she could possibly justify her government’s rhetoric concerning the magnitude of LNG Canada’s potential investment in BC. What I find particularly ironic is that for the last four years the B.C. NDP criticized the B.C. Liberals for using over-the-top exaggerations and hyperbolic language when referring to LNG. I was extraordinarily disappointed in the Minister’s responses to my questions.

Below I reproduce the video and text of our exchange.

Video of Exchange

Question

A. Weaver: Two weeks ago the province issued a press release heralding a $40 billion investment by LNG Canada. However, the government’s release provided no clarity about whether this investment was for the full plant, the full buildout, or just phase 1, consisting of two trains. In contrast, LNG Canada’s release, on the same day, clarified that the final investment decision was only for two trains but made no claim whatsoever about the size of the investment that’s represented.

To the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, can the minister please clarify, for the record, whether the investment that government was celebrating in its press release constituted two or four trains, and if it is only for two, whether a separate FID process would play out for additional trains at a later date?

Answer

Hon. M. Mungall: I was very proud to be in attendance at the announcement two weeks ago. I think this historic event of a $40 billion investment in British Columbia and Canada is actually a very non-partisan event.

I was happy to see members from the other side who were also there, because British Columbians — whether in my riding or in that of the member from Aldergrove–Fort Langley, the member for Parksville-Qualicum or the member for Peace River North — are all going to be able to benefit from this, because $23 billion of revenue is going to be coming back to British Columbia to fund child care, to fund education, to fund post-secondary education and to be able to fund our climate goals.

Now, I know members of the B.C. Liberal Party have mischaracterized our position for many, many years. That was to their benefit to do so. It was to their benefit to do so, but let’s put partisan politics aside, if they can.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Hon. M. Mungall: I know that’s hard for them, but if they could, we could acknowledge that that $40 billion investment, that historic investment for this country, for this province, is an FID — to answer the member’s question — for the entire project. That project, like I said, is going to be beneficial to British Columbians — 10,000 jobs during the construction phase, 950 jobs in northern British Columbia. First Nations are benefiting; local communities are benefiting. That is good for B.C.

Supplementary Question

A. Weaver: Well, thank you, Minister. That was a very simple question, and I can take it, from that answer, that the minister actually doesn’t know, which is quite shocking.

I’d like to dig a little deeper into the $40 billion investment rhetoric. The federal environmental assessment application shows low and high estimates of $25 billion and $40 billion for the project. However, according to this application, these estimates are for both phases of the LNG project for Kitimat. That’s four trains, not two trains.

When we turn to the provincial government’s own environmental assessment report, we find that the investment for phase 1 — that’s the two trains — is projected to be $13 billion to $21 billion, or half the number that the government highlighted in its press release.

Furthermore, it gets worse. In the assessment report of the B.C. government, it points out that for phase 1 costs, only about 20 percent of that will actually be spent in B.C. That would bring the number down to $2½ billion to $4.1 billion, a far cry from the $40 billion touted in the media.

To the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, how do we reconcile the headlines in the government’s own press release with the environmental assessment reports that underpin the project, given that the minister has, I think, sort of clarified that the $40 billion is for four trains as opposed to two? It has to be, based on her own documents. Finally, after years of listening to the B.C. NDP criticize the B.C. Liberals for using over-the-top exaggerations and hyperbolic language when referring to LNG, does the minister not see the hypocrisy unfolding before us?

Answer

Hon. M. Mungall: As I said, this was a historic day two weeks ago. People all over British Columbia were celebrating it, particularly people in the north. The mayor of Kitimat, who is ecstatic to see the potential of 950 permanent jobs in his community, was there. The chief councillor for the Haisla Nation, Crystal Smith, was there. She saw how important this is for her community, as does the member from Kitimat.

He knows very well how important this is. He has spent many, many years working on this project and knows exactly the benefits that are going to be going to his community as well as throughout British Columbia, particularly in the north. This government was proud to be there two weeks ago and to be working with LNG Canada to get that FID.