Liquified Natural Gas, or LNG, is odourless, non-toxic, non-corrosive, less dense than water and it’s made in beautiful Northern BC. It’s a game changer in the Canadian fossil fuel industry.

LNG is just regular old natural gas that has been chilled to -160 degrees celcius so that it can be converted and condensed into liquid form. Once in a liquid form, LNG is easily transported in tanker ships where it can be re-gasified at the end destination. Exportability is important. There is an oversupply of natural gas in the North American market. But not in Asian markets. Places like China and Japan need LNG to meet their escalating energy needs and ethical, Canadian made LNG can help fill the gap as Japan moves away from coal and nuclear. Canada needs to get into these markets before our competitors, like the United States and Australia, do.

An LNG boom in BC will create jobs the same way the shale boom created jobs in North Dakota and Pennsylvania. Analysis of recent data shows that if just five LNG liquefaction plants were built over the next nine years, 100,000 jobs can be created in construction, operations and upstream gas extraction with thousands more jobs being created due to the economic spin off in booming communities. Those just aren't jobs for Northern BC. Those are jobs across the entire North, BC and Alberta too. Trucking companies in Grande Prairie, welders from Nisku and drilling companies in Ponoka will benefit from a boom in BC.

LNG is safe, low carbon and clean burning. It has the support of local BC mayors, Premier Christy Clark and First Nations. LNG has the potential to pull the entire country out of a recession. So what’s the hold up?

The Federal Liberals are the hold up. The Liberals are doing the same thing to LNG that they're doing to Energy East. They’re adding an extra layer to the approvals process. They’re adding more hurdles and hoops for projects to jump through while Northern BC and Alberta spiral into social catastrophe caused by long term unemployment. An incredible opportunity will pass us by while the Liberals kick the LNG ball down the regulatory road.

Half of the opposition to LNG is rooted in energy illiteracy and the other half is rooted in a fundamental opposition to Canadian prosperity. People like Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, BC NDP leader John Horgan, Justin Trudeau and Rachel Notley are ashamed of Canadian energy. They’re ashamed of how good Canadians are at producing clean, ethical, world class, gold standard energy. They don’t want us to share it with the world. They don’t even want us to share it with the rest of the country via Energy East. The unwarranted shame of these anti Canadian politicians who refuse to say “yes to LNG” and “yes to Canadian energy” will cost thousands of Canadians their jobs, their businesses, their homes, their hope and their futures.

I’ve been to Fort St. John. I’ve met the people in town who want LNG projects to go ahead. Maybe Justin Trudeau and Catherine McKenna should follow my lead.