THE FIRST INDIGENOUS CABINET MINISTER WHO CARRIES A GOVERNMENT PORTFOLIO.

to defeat them on a confidence vote. They have pledged to block the Trans Mountain expansion, halt construction of the Site C dam pending the results of a review, and erect new barriers to LNG, despite growing aboriginal involvement in the business.

The response to the changing political landscape has been swift.

Producers of natural gas in the Montney aren’t waiting for the new government to pick their pockets and stall their plans. They’re stepping up efforts to send their gas to the U.S. Gulf rather than wait for LNG plants in B.C. to get built.

Cheniere Energy Inc., which has liquefaction facilities

in March. “I guarantee you I can land that (Western Canadian) AECO gas in the Gulf Coast cheaper than they can move that AECO gas to the West Coast,” Cheniere chief commercial officer Anatol Feygin told reporters.

Feygin said that producers in Western Canada require a $7-billion pipeline to get their gas to the West Coast, which “is going to be nightmarish for them to build, and fantastically expensive,” he told reporters.

Dan Tsubouchi, chief market strategist at Stream Asset Financial Management, said the new NDP/ Green conditions would add costs to B.C. LNG relative to current expectations. “Montney producers can generate very strong returns at $2.50 AECO or lower, which gives them the optionality to look at almost any option to move their natural gas and still make a strong return,” Tsubouchi said in a report to clients.

A legal showdown is well under way between B.C. and Alberta over the Trans Mountain pipeline, which has received regulatory and federal approvals. It is expected to be resolved this fall, though the new B.C. government has promised multiple tactics to stall construction of the Edmontonto-Burnaby line.

Meanwhile, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association is leading the charge to protect Site C, where 2,200 people are working. The group even hired a plane to tow a banner circling the B.C. legislature during the throne speech to remind MLAs that “BC Needs Site C Jobs.”

After decades as an antiresources battleground, the tables are turning in British Columbia. Opponents are now in power and the opposed, one way or the other, are being squeezed out, no matter the cost.