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“This is the first of 20 projects that are in the pipeline somewhere to go forward so far, and I’m just delighted to say that LNG in British Columbia is finally becoming a reality,” Clark said.

However, it is questionable whether Clark’s government will get much credit for delivering Woodfibre, considering she campaigned in the 2013 election on the promise that the first LNG plant would be in place by 2015 and three by 2020, along with tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue for the province.

Woodfibre, which will be built on an old pulp mill site south of town, is the smallest of the leading four proposals in B.C., promising 650 construction jobs and 100 permanent operating jobs. Other proposals include the Shell Canada-led, $25-billion LNG Canada venture, which is currently on hold.

Photo by Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS

“It gives (Clark) the first half of the soundbite. ‘We took action and there’s a plant that is about to be built,'” said Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs for pollster Insights West.

“But it’s nowhere (close to what Clark) promised.”

Canseco’s firm has been tracking attitudes on key issues such as the economy, the environment and housing in the province and said it won’t be easy for the B.C. Liberals to convince voters that they’ve delivered on the LNG file.

And it is unlikely that any other LNG proponent will come through with a final investment decision before the election next May, according to an update from natural gas development minister Rich Coleman.