New Democrat jobs and labour critic Harry Bains released the following statement in response to the release of the LNG working group report:

“In 2011 Christy Clark released a jobs plan without any plan for skills training and apprenticeships. For three years New Democrats have been pushing the government to make sure the investment in skills training is there so British Columbians are ready to work when those jobs are created.

“Now the premier is finally acknowledging that it’s time to catch up by focusing more on skills training and apprenticeships and by bringing government, labour, industry and First Nations together to make sure British Columbians are ready to work.

“Unfortunately, because she’s late to the game, she has admitted we’ll have to rely on temporary foreign workers because we won’t have enough British Columbians trained for those jobs. That means we won’t see the full benefits of an LNG industry.

“In fact, this government dismantled our apprenticeship training system in 2004. This government is not just playing catch up – they actively set us back.

“If the premier had put a real priority on skills training and development instead of wasting millions on ads trying to convince people she had a sound plan, we’d be in a better position today to capitalize on jobs for British Columbians.”