The cost of the proposed LNG Canada project, for which a model is seen here, could top $30-billion.Ben Nelms
A liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat is creating a fund for skills training to spur B.C. residents to vie for jobs promised in the province's nascent LNG industry.
LNG Canada, a joint venture led by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, is investing $1-million in the trades training fund while another $500,000 will come from the Canada-B.C. job grant program. While the funding is modest in the context of huge industry demand for skills training, the announcement is being touted by the B.C. government as one example of how the province is gearing up for what it expects will be an economic bonanza in exporting LNG to Asia.
"We also recognize that there will be a role for immigration – permanent pathways for people to be involved," B.C. Jobs Minister Shirley Bond said Thursday during a news conference at an international LNG conference in Vancouver. "At peak times, it may well be that there is a requirement for workers to be here on a temporary basis, but that will only be if and when needed, and after British Columbians have been considered."
With the slump in the oil industry, Alberta has been hit hard by layoffs in the petroleum sector. "We are seeing in fact numbers of people return to British Columbia, particularly those who have gone to Alberta in the past to find work, and many of those workers are coming home," Ms. Bond said.
From 2011 to 2013, more B.C. residents moved to Alberta than the other way around, but that trend began reversing in the summer of 2014. In the first six months of 2015, B.C. reaped a net gain of about 2,300 people from Alberta, according to preliminary estimates.
LNG Canada external affairs director Susannah Pierce said energy construction projects in British Columbia will require cost-effective ways to hire and manage large labour pools.
"Work-force development is not just about getting the right types of people in the right jobs. It's about how do you make sure that all those jobs go to people locally, and locally for us certainly means Kitimat and Terrace, broadening it out to British Columbia and further to the country," Ms. Pierce said during a panel discussion in front of conference delegates. "When necessary at peak times, we will have to call on international workers. But we know that in order to have success in this province and in Kitimat, we must go to local first, and local means to local businesses and First Nations."
Members of the Haisla First Nation have been generally keen to support LNG on their traditional lands in the Kitimat area, though they want industry and government to pay close attention to reducing environmental impacts. The Haisla's traditional home is on the east side of Douglas Channel in Kitamaat Village, located near Kitimat.
There could be a skilled labour shortage if a couple of major LNG projects get launched in British Columbia, experts say.
"Despite having its roots in fishing, forestry and mining, the work force in British Columbia is currently highly geared toward service-based industries," consulting firm KPMG cautioned in a new report on LNG.
LNG Canada chief executive officer Andy Calitz said his joint venture is well-positioned because it is supported by strong partners.
"We are about to see a huge volume of Australian and Gulf of Mexico LNG come into production. There are a number of other international projects such as in Mozambique that will go before British Columbia. I really think there is, in my mind, right now a certain window of opportunity for British Columbia," Mr. Calitz said in an interview.
Royal Dutch Shell, through Shell Canada Energy, owns 50 per cent of LNG Canada. PetroChina Co. Ltd. holds a 20-per-cent stake while the other Asian partners are Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. and South Korea's Korea Gas Corp., which each have a 15-per-cent interest.
Brent Jang