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VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan says his government is mulling ways to implement all of the taxes and relief for the LNG Canada project without a vote in the legislature, a scenario that would avoid a showdown with the NDP’s power-sharing partners the B.C. Green party.

Horgan told Postmedia News on Wednesday that one tax break most observers thought would need legislation – repealing the previous Liberal government’s 3.5 per cent LNG income tax – can potentially just be avoided entirely.

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When the Liberals passed the LNG income tax act in 2014, it contained an implementation clause that required a cabinet order before the law came into force. The Liberals didn’t pass such an order. That means the NDP government, which promised LNG Canada it would scrap the income tax, does not have to call for a vote in the legislature to repeal the law and could simply leave it dormant.

The tax law could just stay in place but not be implemented, he said. “That’s my view. But there will be discussion around that.”

“To repeal it would require a trip to the legislature,” Horgan added. “And we may or may not do that.”

Finance Minister Carole James, whose ministry oversees the tax measure, confirmed the analysis.

“In essence do you need to repeal this or just need to leave it?” said Horgan. “We’ll see how it goes. At this point the joint venture partners are comfortable that the tax regime we laid out in our framework is the one they will live under and we have given them no reason to think otherwise, nor will we.”