First Nations Examine Impacts of LNG
Wednesday, October 9, 2013 @ 2:59 PM
Federal Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver, addresses delegates to First Nations Summit – photo 250 News
Prince George, B.C. – About 320 delegates gathered at the Prince George Civic Centre today, to talk about the impact of the various LNG projects planned for Northern B.C.
Organized by the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, the session brought together government, First Nations and project developers to talk about the impacts the proposed projects could have on First Nations.
Federal Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver, says three LNG export licenses have already been approved, and there are four more applications under review. According to Oliver, exports could start as early as 2015.
So many projects, many planned to cross through the same regions, have First Nations wanting more information and consideration of the cumulative effects of these projects on their traditional territories.
Minister Oliver says responsible development and export of Canada’s natural resources can be “transformative for Aboriginal communities in an extraordinary positive way”. He points to the economic benefits “ I view this as an enormous opportunity, because we’re looking at resource projects over the next 10 years requiring some $650 billion dollars of capital. Aboriginal communities live within 150 to 200 kilometers of most of these projects. Proximity creates an advantage. There’s an opportunity for jobs, for economic participation.”
He told the gathering the $650 billion in capital investment represents “tens, if not hundreds-of-thousands, of new jobs. It also means tens-of-billions of dollars in royalty and tax payments to fund education, health care, housing, clean water and a host of other programs that define our quality of life.”
Oliver dodged the touchy issue of the Northern Gateway project, a twin pipeline the Carrier Sekani say they will not support, and will take the matter to court if the pipeline is approved. “I’m not here to promote an individual project” said Oliver, “ in fact I have never promoted that specific project because it hasn’t had its regulatory review process completed. What I’ve said, is that it’s a strategic objective of our Government to bring resources to tide water because we absolutely must diversify our markets.”
Timing is everything when it comes to securing customers for LNG. Other nations are already preparing themselves to deliver liquefied natural gas to Asia. B.C.’s Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, John Rustad, says some criticize the B.C. Government for trying to move forward on the LNG development “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If we miss this window, if we don’t get the investment, it could be many, many generations before we will ever see this kind of opportunity again in British Columbia.”
Rustad says he looks forward to seeing what kind of recommendations will come from the Carrier Sekani following tomorrow’s private session of First Nations leaders. They will be talking about their next steps and mapping out ways to make sure communities are involved in the decision making process. “We are carrying on with the work of engagement with First Nations” says Rustad, “We want to make sure that we see those shared benefits and opportunities, especially on the training and employment side because of how that can impact lives and improve opportunities for families and communities.”
Carrier Sekani Tribal Council Chief Terry Teegee, called the session “ a great first step”. He adds, “Never before have so many of the people involved in a process like this come together to talk about how we might move forward. These decisions are decisions of the people, so today we have started to find ways of making sure they are involved.”
Chief Teegee presented a gift to Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, a talking stick, he asked Oliver to bring the stick to the Prime Minister and to share what he has learned of First Nations’ concerns.
Comments
I wonder what kind of research has been done to qualify such a bold statement: âThis is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If we miss this window, if we donât get the investment, it could be many, many generations before we will ever see this kind of opportunity again in British Columbia.â
I’m highly doubtful that the global market can outcompete Canada’s natural gas resources. This is the type of logic being used to rob future generations of wealth creation.
Joe Oliver is one of the most dangerous politicians to Canada IMO. I wonder if the walking stick was forked for the two tongues he seems to talk with.
A guy that uses the Canadian spy agency to do clandestine work for private energy companies (reported on the CBC by Joe Oliver today) is not an honest broker when it comes to being straight forward about his agenda.
A guy that labeled anyone with concerns about Northern Gateway as an eco-terrorist and now we find out he has CSEC investigating ‘environmentalists’ that oppose oil and gas developments for essentially foreign owned corporations.
In other words using the Canadian government to spy on Canadians on behalf of foreign owned corporations with no democratic oversight from Parliament… all directed from their new $1.2 billion dollar secret fortress.
I wonder where the line is for Joe Oliver between using CSEC to investigate opponents of oil and gas developments to where that crosses over to political opponents in the political arena of these same projects. Considering the audacity of the conservative scandals in the last election, one wonders.
IMO its all part and parcel of the NWO agenda to separate corporate law from civil society. Investment deals that essentially grant these corporations a constitution that supersedes the Canadian constitution and limits their accountability to elected governments… and with their own spy agency paid for by tax payers.
IMO Joe Oliver represents the side stepping of democracy in Canada for the interests of foreign multinationals. This is the issue we need to keep our eye on more than anything.
Curmugin a simple internet search that there is a very good chance the window of opportunity is narrow.
**Other Nations are preparing themselves to sell natural gas to Asia. Duhhhhhh.
They have been doing it for years. Especially Russia, Malaysia, etc; The top 10 Natural gas exporting Countries are.
Russia, Canada, Norway, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Nigeria.
Soooo, who else is getting into the export business. Well the USA is, however other Countries will probably use any surplus gas they find themselves, and reduce the amounts they import. Who’s to say how much LNG will be located in China once they get into serious fracking.
At this point Canada only exports natural gas to the USA. If the USA reduces imports from Canada, then we need to find markets just to replace what we already produce let alone additional gas.
Soooo **Houston** we have a problem.
BS from Politicians, makes for good news stories but lets see if they can back it up with some facts.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs, 10’s of billions in royalties, 650 Billion in investments.
Hmmmm/. I want to get on this gravy train.
Doing a bit of research, and I found this paper to be very informative: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Global_LNG_New_pricing_ahead/$FILE/Global_LNG_New_pricing_ahead_DW0240.pdf
It seems there are many countries competing to tap into the LNG export market, and while growth in demand is should to accommodate all the proposed LNG project around the world, capital for start-up is tight. This is where the ‘window of opportunity’ speech comes from. I have no objections to developing LNG exports, but it seems foolish to throw all our economic eggs in one basket. 1-2 projects would have sufficed, but there are 7 on the books. The reality is that we do not have the labour capacity to fully capture the benefit of these projects. It will be a lot of foreign investment and temporary foreign workers.
We’ll do what we always do, and overbuild LNG capacity, too. And then the seller’s market we were looking forward to as being our great economic salvation will turn into a buyer’s market, where we’ll be happy to get whatever pittance we’re offered just to keep a few people working. You’d think we’d learn, but we don’t.
I don’t believe First Nation or anyone other than the government should have a say in this. The company who wants to build has asked the government for right of way and that is all that is necessary. First Nations must try to remember they do not “own” the land they are talking about; they have been given the right to use it. It really belongs to all of us and if the minority of all the Canadian people from First Nations get a vote on it, then we should all get a vote on it. Nuff said.
Build the damn pipeline before you get soft Mr. Harper.
First Nations must try to remember they do not “own” the land they are talking about; they have been given the right to use it.
supertech—- put that name to good use.. Do some research before opening yer mouth. First Nations were NOT GIVEN THE RIGHT… They ALWAYS had that RIGHT from day one..
Comments for this article are closed.