Govt announcements at resources forum leave northern BC out in the cold
Each year, politicians, stakeholders and members of British Columbia’s natural resources community gather together in Prince George to discuss innovations, projections, successes, plans and on the part of the government, announce funding and government-backed initiatives to further BC resource sector.
In the vast area north of Prince George, encompassing half the province, the land is rich in resources. From forestry to petroleum to mining to hydro and agriculture, the northern half of British Columbia has it all. Yet the NDP government saw fit to exclude northern BC from all the economic opportunities it announced during the BC Natural Resources Forum.
The first announcement, on January 16, detailed what the province called unprecedented levels of construction for electricity projects over the next decade “building out British Columbia’s electricity system to power a growing clean economy and communities, and create new jobs.”
The $36 billion the government promised is primarily for projects in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and building transmission lines from Prince George to Terrace in part to support electrification of the Cedar LNG project.
Electricity demand, the province says, is expected to increase by 15 percent between now and 2030, when all of the government’s “clean” initiatives like zero emission vehicle sales are to kick in. This capital expenditure is meant to help meet this demand.
Included in the announcement were plans to upgrade “BC’s dams and generating facilities to make them safer, more reliable and more efficient.” But no planned expansion of the electricity infrastructure north of Prince George. An area that has very few EV charging stations to support the government’s 2030 ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles. Without adding infrastructure in northeastern BC, the region’s dams will be upgraded to support the electricity needs of the rest of the province.
On January 17, Premier David Eby announced funding for six wood-product, and two fabricated-metal manufacturers, all in the southern half of the province.
“Forestry jobs support families across the province, including in smaller and rural communities. By helping companies get more jobs per tree through manufacturing here at home, we’re supporting a brighter future for forest workers,” Eby said.
Yet mills in small and rural communities north of Prince George continue to shut down – most recently in Fraser Lake on January 23 - rather than benefitting from the NDP’s desire to “protect hundreds of resource-sector jobs for people and strengthen BC’s value-added wood sector and local economies.”
Peace River North MLA Dan Davies attended the Natural Resources Forum and said that there was nothing positive for the northeast.
“Nobody felt any better leaving the resource conference. There’s still the same level of uncertainty and unknowing, distrust in the NDP that they’re going to be able to deliver a viable resource sector in BC,” Davies said. “Let’s be honest, David Eby and the NDP do not like the resource sector.”
The announcements, Davies said, did not address the real issues facing the natural resources sector.
“When I was there, I had multiple conversations with stakeholders, permitting is probably the number one issue that people were talking about.”
People understand the complexity of the Blueberry Decision, he said, but the government hasn’t been clear on how to maneuver through the process.
“It’s been over a year now, since this came into place and there’s still no clear path how permitting works.”
“Government for whatever reason, seems to think that we’re the only player, as far as a jurisdiction that has natural gas and resources, . . . but we’re competing against the rest of Canada, against the rest of North America,” Davies said.
There are companies in Fort St. John, for example, said Davies, that are moving their operations to Texas because it’s easier to get things done.
“We are potentially losing billions of dollars of revenue into the coffers, which lightens our load as taxpayers, if we have these revenues coming in from the resource sector. Good paying paycheques that are going elsewhere, not here,” he said.
That economic growth should be happening in British Columbia.
“We are so lucky here, we have everything. We’ve got the rare minerals, we’ve got natural gas, we’ve got oil, we’ve got grain, we’ve got forestry. We’ve got all of these pieces, but the government sucks at actually delivering them in any and all measurables.”
The loss of revenue is compounded by the Federal government’s reluctance to make LNG available to Canada’s allies, countries that are desperate for our gas, but the Prime Minister claims there is “no business case” for it.
“You have a leader of a country coming here begging for [natural gas], what more of a business case do you need?” said Davies.
Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer spoke at the Forum, and his comments agreed with Davies’ that there is a strong business case for exporting LNG. Japan and Germany, he said both asked Trudeau for Canadian LNG.
Japan received a lecture on decarbonization from Trudeau in response its request, while Germany’s was “met with disinterest from the Liberal government,” according to Zimmer.
“I do believe there is a strong business case to export LNG to our allies and to the world,” Zimmer said.
As a result, both countries had to turn to less ethical countries to meet their needs.
Zimmer says we should look at Norway as an example of how to have a robust natural resource economy. In 2023, Norway was expected to earn $131 billion from oil and gas, he said. Norway has 5.4 million people; it has a respected environmental record and no debt.
“Why isn’t this us? Canada has far more natural resources than Norway.”
Davies said both governments seem fine with unethical countries providing resources to our allies, while northeastern BC as one of the best jurisdictions in the world for resource extraction, and innovation could provide LNG to meet needs both at home and abroad.
“David Eby’s message is – we want windmills and solar – that’s not going to cut it, we’ve already seen that,” said Davies.
A little over two weeks ago, much of the West was in the grip of a typical January cold snap, with temperatures plunging to near -50 Celsius.
Seventy percent of the energy used to keep things warm during that time, in British Columbia, was natural gas, said Davies.
“Barry Penner at Resource Works said [that] if we did not have natural gas resources, we would’ve had rolling blackouts across the province during that cold snap. We needed the natural gas to make that work. That’s the reality – thank God for natural gas,” he said.
The biggest thing needed to deliver a viable resource sector to British Columbia, said Davies, is removing the gatekeepers.
“One of our biggest things is that we need to cut through that red tape, we need to make decisions, we need to work with First Nations – the resource sector absolutely needs to include First Nations as partners, we know that.”
Our forests also need to be managed better. Silviculture and cleaning up the forest after fires, are important to the health of the forests and forestry in British Columbia. Davies believes we need to look at examples set by Finland and Sweden.
These countries are “a little bit smaller than British Columbia who produce way more lumber than we do, have a much more sustainable forest industry than we do – what can we learn from them?”
If Scandinavian countries which have the same resources that British Columbia does, and are approximately the same size population-wise can have robust, sustainable resource sectors, with excellent environmental records, why can’t British Columbia?
Getting permits and making decisions are the key, says Davies. “Right now, the NDP are not willing to make decisions.”
“We need to make sure we can get our resources to market and get our people working.”