{"id":62847,"date":"2015-10-14T16:19:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T20:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=62847"},"modified":"2016-04-02T23:33:06","modified_gmt":"2016-04-03T03:33:06","slug":"b-c-premier-still-confident-in-lng-despite-energy-slump-aboriginal-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/10\/14\/b-c-premier-still-confident-in-lng-despite-energy-slump-aboriginal-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. premier still confident in LNG despite energy slump, aboriginal protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"B.C.<\/a>
B.C. Premier Christy Clark (Photo from Clark’s official Twitter account<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VANCOUVER \u2013 Premier Christy Clark is defending her optimism on British Columbia\u2019s fledgling liquefied natural gas industry, despite growing First Nations protests and sinking international demand.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the third annual International LNG in B.C. conference, the premier maintained her rosy outlook in a speech to hundreds of business, government and aboriginal leaders in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not from British Columbia, you won\u2019t know that I\u2019m always accused by my political opponents of being an optimist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true. I am an optimist. I\u2019m also a hard worker, because I know that optimism doesn\u2019t get you anywhere unless you\u2019re willing to roll up your sleeves and get the work done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premier has staked her government\u2019s future on the LNG industry, with promises of 100,000 new jobs and more than $100 billion in revenue over 30 years.<\/p>\n

There are now 20 LNG proposals in the province, but they face numerous challenges including weakened Asian demand, low energy prices and threats of legal action from First Nations.<\/p>\n

But Clark insisted Wednesday that global energy demand would continue to grow. She said B.C. LNG represents a cleaner alternative to coal and oil, as the province has set the toughest emission limits in the world.<\/p>\n

She also touted the province\u2019s 61 agreements with 28 First Nations along proposed pipeline routes and investments in environmental stewardship and job skills programs for aboriginal bands.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst Nations in this country, as in many others, have been left out of the economic mainstream for way too long,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LNG opportunity truly does represent a chance to redress historical wrongs, to change the course of post-colonial history and make sure that First Nations are fully included in economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours after Clark\u2019s speech, the Squamish Nation announced it had granted its own legally binding environmental certificate for the Woodfibre LNG project on Howe Sound, about 60 kilometres north of Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Chief Ian Campbell called the agreement \u201chistoric,\u201d as the band had issued 25 conditions as part of a unique independent assessment. Woodfibre LNG has agreed to comply with the 13 conditions that apply to it, while negotiations continue with Fortis B.C. and the province.<\/p>\n

Campbell said Clark\u2019s comments signal that First Nations are finally being treated as partners rather than just stakeholders in resource projects. But he added that his nation still doesn\u2019t fully support LNG.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve largely been alienated and marginalized from any meaningful decision-making or economic participation, or taking into consideration our thousands of years of stewardship of our lands and resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Several First Nations were to protest outside the conference on Wednesday evening, taking aim at the $36-billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project near Prince Rupert.<\/p>\n

Richard Wright, a spokesman for the Luutkudziiwus \u2013 a group within the Gitxsan Nation \u2013 said it was planning to file a court challenge against the proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline project.<\/p>\n

The pipeline would carry natural gas to the Pacific NorthWest LNG terminal, crossing 34.5 kilometres of territory known as Madii Lii, where a protest camp has been set up for 14 months.<\/p>\n

Wright\u2019s group will seek a judicial review in an attempt to overturn a provincial environmental certificate for the pipeline. It will argue the government should have consulted with the member nations rather than the Gitxsan Development Corp., a company created to represent Gitxsan economic interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been pushed aside and oppressed for generations,\u201d he said. \u201cThey feel that they can just talk to an organization that doesn\u2019t have aboriginal rights, doesn\u2019t have land, doesn\u2019t have resources, nor a mandate to represent us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2013 Premier Christy Clark is defending her optimism on British Columbia\u2019s fledgling liquefied natural gas industry, despite growing First …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":62848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-62847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-original","mauthors-laura-kane","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62847","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}