Conservatives Celebrate LNG Canada’s Final Investment Decision

OTTAWA, ON – Shannon Stubbs, Conservative Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, today released the following statement regarding LNG Canada’s final investment decision:

“Canada’s Conservatives welcome this important investment in Canada’s energy sector. Our previous Conservative government championed LNG Canada through the approvals process and provided regulatory certainty for major resource projects because Conservatives know all Canadians stand to benefit from resource jobs and opportunities.

“While Justin Trudeau showed up for the final photo-op and tried to take credit for this investment, the reality is that it took years of Conservative action behind the scenes to get this project over the finish line.

“In fact, the Province of British Columbia had to agree to exempt LNG Canada from Justin Trudeau’s job killing carbon tax hike in order to ensure that it went ahead. This is just another example of how Liberal policies are impeding resource development in Canada and driving away private sector investment.

“Under Justin Trudeau’s watch more than $100 billion worth of oil and gas projects have been cancelled, including the $35 billion Pacific Northwest LNG project, the $28 billion Aurora LNG project, and the $15 billion Grassy Point LNG project. Canada’s Conservatives will reverse Justin Trudeau’s damaging anti-energy policies and make Canada both a destination of choice for energy development and a major supplier of oil and gas for the world’s growing demand in the future.”

Backgrounder

This project was submitted for approval after the previous Conservative Government made significant changes to the environmental assessment process to provide certainty to natural resource developers.

This project benefited from the substitution process that was introduced in 2012, which allowed the provincial environmental assessment to also be used as the federal environmental assessment. This reduced duplication, allowing for the facility permits to be granted by the end of 2015.

Here is the relevant timeline on the regulatory process:

Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 comes into force July 6, 2012¹
Applied to National Energy Board for 25 year export license July 27, 2012 ²
National Energy Board approved export license February 4, 2013³
Canada allows BC environment assessment to substitute May 21, 2013⁴,⁵
BC Environmental Assessment Office submitted November 7, 2014⁶
Conservative Budget 2015 provides significant incentives to LNG April 21, 2015⁷

(Accelerated capital cost allowances to encourage construction)

BC Environmental Assessment complete June 17, 2015⁸,⁹
Environment Minister Aglukkaq approves environmental assessment June 17, 2015¹⁰,¹¹,¹²,¹³
BC Oil & Gas Commission application submitted February 2015¹⁴,¹⁵
BC Government grants LNG Facility Permit authorizing construction December 22, 2015¹⁶