OTTAWA – Premier Christy Clark is projecting British Columbia will rival energy giant Alberta in terms of “contribution to Canada” once the province starts exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia.
Clark is preaching the gospel of natural gas exports in Ottawa with a large delegation that includes energy industry business people and a few First Nations leaders.
The B.C. government used the occasion to sign an accord with the federal government on skills training — preparation, says Clark, for a potentially inflationary labour shortage in her province.
The premier is predicting B.C.’s liquefied natural gas industry will soon be competing for labour with Alberta’s oilpatch and Saskatchewan’s potash industry, and says she’s concerned about rising wages.
Clark says the country is better off when all provincial economies are booming and she believes B.C. has a chance to contribute as much as or more to Canada than Alberta.
The latest B.C. budget didn’t project revenues from liquefied natural gas for the next three years, and Clark says it will be a market decision whether any final LNG investment commitments are signed before the end of this year.