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\u201cBritish Columbians are counting on us to attract LNG\ninvestment that meets strict conditions: delivering jobs and financial benefits\nto B.C., creating economic partnerships with Indigenous peoples, and protecting\nour clean air, land and water,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThis legislation\ncompletes the process of creating a fiscal framework that invites investment\nwhile supporting those conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the changes, the government would amend the Income Tax\nAct to implement the tax credit for LNG development. It would also repeal the\nLiquefied Natural Gas Income Tax Act, which it says created barriers for\ninvestment and left the province open to footing the bill for special industry\ntax and regulatory protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Green party said the government’s actions are\nhypocritical because they stray from its CleanBC plan to reduce carbon\npollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October, LNG Canada announced\nplans for a $40-billion project in Kitimat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government said the tax changes it is making will\nprovide the fiscal framework needed for the project, which is expected to\ncreate 10,000 construction jobs and up to 950 permanent jobs in the processing\nterminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new tax credit would go in effect on Jan. 1, 2020, to\ncompanies that qualify for it. It would be calculated at three per cent of the\ncost of natural gas and could be used to reduce B.C.’s corporate income tax rate\nfrom 12 to nine per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Finance Ministry said the previous LNG income tax was\nremoved because it created uncertainty and risk to investors but the natural\ngas tax credit has been retained to encourage companies to pay provincial\ncorporate income taxes. It said qualifying corporations would be those with a\nprincipal business involving oil and gas exploration, development, refining\nmarketing or liquefaction of natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Green party Leader Andrew Weaver said in a statement the\ngovernment’s actions are pulling the province in two different directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cContinuing to push for LNG development is short sighted and\nworks directly against CleanBC objectives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter years of criticizing the B.C. Liberals for their\ngenerous giveaway of our natural gas resources, the B.C. NDP have taken the\ngiveaway to a whole new level. The legislation brought forward by this province\nis a generational sellout.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weaver, who is the lead author of four United Nations\nintergovernmental climate change reports, said investments in renewable energy\ninfrastructure would invite innovative industries to the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peter McCartney of the Wilderness Committee also criticized\nthe legislation for not aligning with the CleanBC plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPremier Horgan is talking out of both sides of his mouth on\nclimate change,\u201d McCartney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBritish Columbians are all doing their part to cut carbon\npollution while at the same time he’s giving $6 billion in tax breaks and\nsubsidies to construct the most polluting project in the province.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Business Council of British Columbia, meanwhile, backed\nthe government’s approach, saying the changes will allow the province to\ncompete in LNG markets around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we as a province are purposeful and apply this same\ncompetitive lens to all our natural resource, technology and energy export\nsectors we can become the low carbon supplier of choice globally,\u201d Greg\nD’Avignon, the council’s president and CEO, said in a news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe resulting economic growth will create higher wage jobs,\nstronger communities and more government revenues to support the quality of\nlife and services British Columbians expect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
VICTORIA \u2014 British Columbia is changing the province’s tax structure for liquefied natural gas projects with Finance Minister Carole James …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":202656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206864"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206866,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206864\/revisions\/206866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}