A blueprint for LNG

Photo: Contributed - Flickr/BC gov't

British Columbia's finance minister says he has introduced legislation that provides the blueprint for building and operating the province's first liquefied natural gas plant.

Mike de Jong says the proposed $36-billion facility on B.C.'s North Coast would be the largest private investment in the province's history.

Pacific NorthWest LNG, a joint venture backed by Malaysian state-owned energy giant Petronas, proposes to build the plant near Prince Rupert though it has not yet made a final investment decision on the project.

De Jong says the province's law provides Pacific NorthWest LNG with 25-year assurances specific to LNG-related income and ensures energy and environmental taxes do not increase while corporate and sales taxes could rise.

He says the guarantees against targeted tax increases are a tradeoff in exchange for thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in revenues that the LNG industry is expected to generate.

Opposition NDP Leader John says the tradeoffs do not come with job guarantees for British Columbians.