Release: Business Council welcomes action on LNG competitiveness
March 25, 2019, (Vancouver, B.C.) – The Business Council of British Columbia welcomes steps announced today by the provincial government to advance a competitive LNG export industry. The removal of the LNG corporate income tax surcharge and other changes will allow British Columbia to compete in global LNG markets while delivering among the lowest carbon-intensive LNG in the world.
“Today's announcement acknowledges the competitive realities facing many B.C. export industries,“ stated Greg D’Avignon, President and CEO of the Business Council of British Columbia. “If we as a province are purposeful and apply this same competitive lens to all our natural resource, technology and energy export sectors we can become the low carbon supplier of choice globally. The resulting economic growth will create higher wage jobs, stronger communities and more government revenues to support the quality of life and services British Columbians expect.”
The government’s initiative to remove this tax is a recognition that investors in B.C. have options in today’s global economy about where to place capital and create jobs. Barriers such as excessive taxation, regulatory cost, delays and uncertainty are prohibitive to advancing long term investments that benefit communities across the province.
This legislation today also reflects the joint approach and work of the Business Council and the Province of B.C. in building the Memorandum of Understanding to advance a competitive low-carbon industrial strategy signed by the Honourable George Heyman, Minister of Environment and BCBC in November 2018.
“Climate change does not respect borders. When B.C.'s natural resource industries, including our LNG industry, are competitive in global markets, we can provide our lower-carbon intensive goods, services and solutions to a world looking to reduce emissions and the resulting impacts of climate change,” said D’Avignon. “B.C. and the world’s climate are worse off if we don’t leverage our abundance of low carbon natural resources, energy and clean hydroelectricity, all supported by our high environmental standards, technologies and proximity to emerging markets. When we share these low-carbon B.C. products with export markets, we have the opportunity to attract investment and make an outsized reduction in global emissions while displacing similar products supplied by higher carbon intensive competing jurisdictions.”
British Columbia is a relatively small economy that depends heavily on interprovincial and international trade to generate the revenues that underpin our collective prosperity. Increasing investment and encouraging investor confidence through competitive policies will support sustainable and robust export industries, which ultimately pay the bills in British Columbia.
About the Business Council of British ColumbiaNow in its 53rd year as the premier business organization in British Columbia, the Business Council of B.C. is a non-partisan organization made up of 250 leading companies, post-secondary institutions and industry associations from across B.C.'s diverse economy. The Council produces exceptional public policy research and advocacy in support of creating a competitive economy for the benefit of all British Columbians. bcbc.com
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