The government also said work on the project can’t proceed on public lands until meaningful consultation with Indigenous people has been properly completed. Kinder Morgan had planned to have shovels in the ground next month.

Peter Milobar, the BC Liberals’ environment critic (this appointment, by the way, is one of the more baffling ones for the Liberals in their new role as opposition, for nothing in Milobar’s background suggests environment as a particular interest or skill set of his) issued the expected response that the NDP government’s actions will drive away investment. “One has to question, what project is next?” he asked as quoted in a CFJC Today story. He mentioned Site C, adding, “One has to wonder where in the Interior of B.C. the NDP are talking about all of these jobs that they’re planning on creating. So far, all they keep announcing are ways to slow down and hinder the economy, not expand and grow it.”

Milobar may have put his finger on a political conundrum facing the New Democrats.

One has to wonder, if the John Horgan government is successful in stopping both Trans Mountain and Site C, whether it will be looking around for something to approve. A three-up three-down record on major industrial projects might not be the kind of thing the new government wants to wear.

So, giving the green light to Ajax would allow it to say, “See, we aren’t against all industry, just some.”

Which, of course, would be a terrible result for Kamloops. The Ajax decision simply must be made independent of the outcomes on Trans Mountain and Site C, but the arithmetic is worrisome.