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Les Leyne: NDP’s position on LNG a bit confusing

The NDP Opposition spent hours criticizing the bill that imposes a tax regime on any liquefied natural gas plants that open in B.C. Then they voted in favour of it.
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NDP Leader John Horgan: “I’m not suggesting today I’m going to change the tax regime, because we don’t have any final investment decisions."

Les Leyne mugshot genericThe NDP Opposition spent hours criticizing the bill that imposes a tax regime on any liquefied natural gas plants that open in B.C.

Then they voted in favour of it.

Then, moments after it passed, NDP Leader John Horgan suggested a future NDP government would take a hard look at changing the terms set out in the bill his caucus just supported.

What gives?

There are a lot of political issues pushing and pulling the party on the LNG issue that dominated the fall sitting of the legislature. Horgan manoeuvred as best he could, but the course he set has to leave some people confused about where the party stands.

The Opposition is obligated to oppose, of course. So any government bill is going to be criticized. There will never be any cheerleading for government initiatives.

But they learned a searing lesson in the 2013 election campaign about how costly it can be when voters conclude that the NDP is against job-creating projects. Horgan has spent some time in his seven months as leader trying to undo the damage predecessor Adrian Dix did when he lurched into a position against an oil pipeline, which alienated a number of working people.

At the same time, Horgan has to keep an eye on metro Vancouver’s enviro voters. They helped defeat Premier Christy Clark in Vancouver-Point Grey and a few other Liberals elsewhere in town. If Horgan moves too far into the resource-development camp, they could just move on to the Greens, even if natural gas isn’t nearly as toxic an issue as oil currently is.

So when the proposed tax regime arrived in the legislature, the NDP was trying to straddle a number of divides.

Trying to explain the vote to reporters later, Horgan might have talked himself into another problem, by opening the possibility of changing some terms in the bill he just supported.

He opened by again supporting the general LNG concept. He touched on the Opposition’s obligation to express concerns, but said: “Ultimately, we need to say to British Columbians, this is a bipartisan issue.

“When we stood with [Liberals] to vote in favour of a bill that was deficient in terms of what I believe the returns should be to B.C., it sends a signal … we want to see this proceed.”

Then things got a bit confusing.

“In order for this to proceed, we need certainty. If we’re going to get final investment decisions, we need to have a tax framework. I believe the framework is inadequate. I’ve said that, I will say that to the companies when I meet with them and they should be on record and they should know that when the government changes in 2017, I’m going to be wanting to look at those agreements.

“Bills are passed into law, governments change laws.”

Horgan said he wouldn’t rip up contracts like the B.C. Liberals, “but I will negotiate after 2017 with any company that wants to do business in B.C.”

Changing the tax regime is a “possibility, absolutely.”

He closed with: “I’m not suggesting today I’m going to change the tax regime, because we don’t have any final investment decisions. What I’m saying is: We supported this so there was certainty for the industry so they can proceed and if I get the opportunity to form a government, we’ll talk about it then.”

Generally supporting LNG is slightly safer for the NDP than being against it. But talking about changing the key deal before the industry has even signed on doesn’t do much for “certainty.”

As far as the B.C. Liberals are concerned, the bill is a mixed blessing. Its passage is one of the final moves the government will make on the file. They’ve set the table, now it’s up to industry to decide if it wants to pull up a chair.

But the tax rate set in the bill is dramatically lower than the theoretical upper limit that was discussed just a few months ago. Figuring out how to adjust expectations downward could be just as confusing as tracking what the NDP really thinks of it all.

lleyne@timescolonist.com