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Jobs have been a key Site C selling point, for the previous government, for B.C. Hydro and for the project’s supporters. But just how good a job creator is Site C?

Since work began, 1,500 people on average have been employed each month. B.C. Hydro currently claims 2,549 are working. Hydro hasn’t been clear how it arrives at its jobs claims, but let’s take its higher number at face value. Each job ends up costing $3.4 million.

A report by Blue Green Canada showed investments in energy efficiency would cost roughly $110,000 per job, while wind- and solar-energy investments would cost around $130,000 and $120,000 per job, respectively.

Yet here we have the Site C dam portrayed as a great creator of jobs. It’s not. It’s the opposite in fact: a poor job creator.

A report commissioned by the Peace Valley Landowners Association suggests that renewable alternatives like wind and solar are a more flexible and cost-effective means of addressing our future energy needs. The cost of renewable energy such as wind and solar continues to fall.

The cost of Site C — well, we can only expect it to rise.

Cancelling and remediating the site would cost $1.1 billion, according to a Deloitte LLP report commissioned by the BCUC. The cost to complete the dam would be an additional $6.7 billion.

And that’s assuming the project comes in on budget. There are clear indications from B.C. Hydro itself and the Deloitte report that this won’t be the case. Hydro recently conceded that it will miss its 2019 river-diversion target, adding $610 million to the total bill.