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As for B.C.’s current prospects, I asked Energy Minister Michelle Mungall if she expects we’ll see the opening of a multi-billion dollar LNG terminal here in B.C. one of these days?

“I do,” she said. “As soon as I was given this portfolio, I instructed my ministry to move forward with looking at how do we be competitive in the current global market pricing. So we’ve done that work and identified ways in which we can increase our competitiveness.”

The New Democrats are currently staking their hopes on LNG Canada, the Kitimat-based project backed by Shell Canada and partners.

“LNG Canada is still very much committed to working in B.C.,” Mungall told me during an interview last week on Voice of B.C. on Shaw TV.

“They are anticipating to have a final investment decision within this calendar year. So they are still very much actively pursuing.”

Before the election, the New Democrats sided with a minority of First Nations in opposition to the chosen site near Port Edward on the northwest coast for an LNG project proposed by Malaysian-government owned Petronas. Petronas walked away from the project six days after the NDP took office, blaming market conditions.

Mungall says the Kitimat project meets NDP’s standards for support from First Nations.

“When I met many of the 21 First Nations that are along the line for LNG Canada from well to tidewater, many of them said ‘we want to make sure that you’re going to see LNG Canada happen because it’s so important for our community and not just the economic development opportunities.’ Many of them had community-wide votes after they did their own environmental assessment process, and those communities came out in strong support of LNG Canada.”