As liquefied natural gas becomes an increasingly important feature of Canada’s ambition to become a global energy superpower, some Canadians are pushing back.
Protestors say that the GDP growth is not worth it, calling for an end to federal subsidies for LNG projects in the province.
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“Public money, public good,” they said during a protest in Vancouver on Saturday.
“It’s not quite the economic engine it’s being advertised as,” said Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas, spokesperson and climate campaigner at the Wilderness Committee.
“Trying to sell our LNG as somehow better, or cleaner, or anything like that, and we are seeing that is just not true. This fuel is not good for anyone here, or anywhere else.”
Those at the rally, held beside the federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson’s office, were calling on the federal government to stop using public money to fund private LNG infrastructure.
“Ksi Lisims LNG is 100 per cent owned by an American company, LNG Canada phase two is owned by a couple of different multinational corporations, so those benefits actually are not coming to us, they are going to these foreign billionaires and investors, some of whom have connections to Epstein and Trump,” Siu-Zmuidzinas explained.
The Ksi Lisims LNG facility in northern B.C. is designed to be an export facility in waters off the province’s northwest, in Nisga’a Nation territory.
Based on two floating platforms, it would process up to 22.4 billion cubic metres of gas per year, resulting in exports of 12 million tonnes of LNG per year.
She says that the money that federal and provincial governments are contributing to make LNG infrastructure a reality would be better spent on housing, transit, and renewable energy.
“All of those projects would create long-term jobs, and also lower costs for people here, and actually speak to the needs of a lot of folks who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.”
But advocates for natural resources say that increasing LNG exports will generate significant royalties, which will more than pay for the money governments are pumping into the infrastructure build-out.
“You get these benefits, not just one year, it’s going to be every single year, there’s going to be over a billion dollars that come in to pay for those things that everyone expects in their lives,” said Stewart Muir, president and CEO of Resource Works Society.
Muir leads a non-profit advocacy group, and he says that amid global conflicts, the demand for Canadian LNG is only climbing.
“Canada is this preferred, stable, friendly ally supplied for something they need, and they need more of.”
But as Canada’s energy ambitions pick up steam, fears remain that economic growth could cover up irreversible damage to the environment.
