In January I reminded readers that for all the bluster of the Christy Clark years, with LNG and 91裸聊视频渄ebt free B.C.,91裸聊视频� John Horgan never actually opposed chilling and exporting northeast B.C.91裸聊视频檚 abundant shale gas to Asia.
He91裸聊视频檚 fine with hydraulic fracturing too. He just promised an independent study, like he did with the Site C dam. As NDP opposition leader, it was politically convenient to sound like he detested both of these time-tested industries, the better to calm urban voters raised on a steady diet of environmental scare stories.
Now that he91裸聊视频檚 premier, the real Horgan emerges. It91裸聊视频檚 a more abrupt transition than I expected, considering his government hangs by the thinnest of green threads. Horgan seems to have found one of Clark91裸聊视频檚 old LNG hardhats in the premier91裸聊视频檚 office, and he likes the fit.
The Shell-led LNG Canada project, $40 billion worth of pipelines, processing and shipping out of Kitimat, is now Horgan91裸聊视频檚 top priority. The 91裸聊视频淟NG income tax,91裸聊视频� brought in by the B.C. Liberals, will be repealed. Construction will be exempted from sales tax as with manufacturing plants, and LNG Canada will even be exempted from carbon tax increases that start this year.
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B.C. Hydro power will be sold at the industrial rate, as it should be, although the old Horgan used to call that a subsidy from residential ratepayers.
When Clark and the B.C. Liberals were in full flight, summoning the legislature in the summer of 2015 to set conditions for the Petronas-led Pacific Northwest LNG, Horgan took to calling lead minister Rich Coleman 91裸聊视频渢he gas man.91裸聊视频�
He railed for years against what we now know are much more modest LNG tax breaks. 91裸聊视频淪hell does not need handouts from government,91裸聊视频� he told a Victoria91裸聊视频檚 CFAX radio in 2013.
91裸聊视频淐hristy Clark reassures us that moving India and China away from coal-burning facilities to LNG facilities is the cleanest, greenest answer,91裸聊视频� NDP MLA Michelle Mungall in 2016. 91裸聊视频淚 can91裸聊视频檛 believe how ridiculous that is. It91裸聊视频檚 still a fossil fuel.91裸聊视频�
Guess who is now Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources? (Much to her own surprise I suspect.) And guess who91裸聊视频檚 the new gas man, as LNG policy is directed by the premier91裸聊视频檚 office?
Horgan made his first visit to China in January, where he experienced the smog-choked air in a vast country that is still building hundreds more coal-fired electricity plants to power its mind-boggling urban development.
91裸聊视频淚 stood on the bank of the Pearl River and I couldn91裸聊视频檛 see the other side,91裸聊视频� Horgan said.
I toured China two years ago and I agree with him. It has to be seen, and smelled, and tasted, to fully appreciate the scale of the building boom and the pollution crisis.
Green leader Andrew Weaver has been proven right for once. If this deal goes ahead, Site C power will be used to green up B.C. LNG, sold at the same discount industrial rate sawmills get.
Weaver was briefed on the government91裸聊视频檚 talks with LNG Canada, a rare consortium of Shell, PetroChina, KOGAS of South Korea and Japanese giant Mitsubishi. He insists that B.C.91裸聊视频檚 2030 and 2050 targets can91裸聊视频檛 be met with LNG. They can91裸聊视频檛 be met without it either, barring some miraculous technological breakthrough.
Weaver will vote against the tax breaks, especially the carbon tax relief, when legislation comes this fall.
For now, that doesn91裸聊视频檛 matter, because the B.C. Liberals have to support LNG. We91裸聊视频檒l see how outraged Weaver is next February, when he is asked to support another NDP budget.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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