SURREY – New Democrat natural gas development spokesperson Bruce Ralston issued the following statement regarding Petronas’ conditional investment decision to move forward on LNG.

“New Democrats are looking forward to the possibility of a final investment decision. Unfortunately, the big promises made by Premier Clark and the B.C. Liberals in the last election have still not been met. There are no shovels in the ground, and no final investment decisions.

“It’s good to see Petronas recommitting their support for this project, but there are still major hurdles to overcome.

“First Nations must be involved as true partners, but so far this project is a long way from getting their support, and we need to know that our air, land and water will be protected. The federal environmental review has been repeatedly delayed and won’t be finished until at least this fall now.

“It’s worrying that the B.C. Liberals have not addressed concerns about ensuring British Columbians will get jobs from this project. Nowhere in any agreement we’ve seen are there guarantees for jobs for British Columbians, and we’ve seen the premier support the Petronas plan to fill up to 70 per cent of their jobs with temporary workers from other countries

“If this project will have jobs for British Columbians, a fair return on our resources, make true partners of First Nations, and protect our air, land and water, we’d like to see it move forward.  We’re not there yet. “