Call it a tale of two LNG solitudes.
The same hour Wednesday morning that a smiling Premier Christy Clark inked a new LNG industry agreement in Vancouver with Malaysian gas giant Petronas, First Nations leaders in northern B.C. seized a microphone at a town hall to oppose the very same natural gas and pipeline development.
“The premier smiles into the camera as hard as she can to portray that everything is going great. How can you trust that? There is a battle that’s going to be fought, and this is just the start,” Gitxsan house (Spookw) spokesperson Norman Stevens said.
LNG meeting protested in Kispiox
The northern drama occurred in a community hall in Kispiox Village near Hazelton, B.C., where an LNG industry information session was underway. “No LNG” signs are posted widely in the area, according to residents —on backyard fences, house windows, and in gardens.
About 150 people, who were reportedly offered cash honorariums, came to hear about the benefits of the multi-billion dollar LNG push.
The area’s Gitxsan First Nations territory is key land along the TransCanada pipeline. The pipeline would pump fracked natural gas from the province’s northeast to Petronas’ Pacific NorthWest LNG plant on the coast.
The event’s keynote speaker, Gordon Wilson, the former Liberal leader hired by the Clark government to spread a positive message about LNG, was interrupted by two dozen people who overwhelmed the front of the room.