When Gordon Campbell was Premier of British Columbia’s Liberal government, monthly sales of petroleum and natural gas rights added billions of dollars to the provincial treasury.
In 2011, Christy Clark replaced Gordon Campbell, with her leadership campaign and transition to power assisted by people long associated with the natural gas industry.
Businesses investing in Christy Clark gained extraordinary returns. Revenues from sales of rights plunged deeply. Subsidy programs that reduced royalty payments soared.
Before John Horgan’s NDP assumed office in 2017, they promised the public would gain a fair share of future natural resource revenues. Despite steadily increasing gas production, after forming government, Horgan’s team decided that fossil fuel producers deserved greater financial support.
Two minor offerings of petroleum and natural gas rights were made in the first halves of 2020 and 2021. No sales have been held for 17 months and none are planned for the balance of 2022. Instead of seeking competitive bids, civil servants now assign the rights administratively.
In addition, royalty reduction credits taken by industry rose to $1,517 million in fiscal year 2022, up from $654 million in the preceding year.
While government pays spin doctors to promote its climate plan as world leading, looking behind the press releases shows the NDP is failing badly. It’s an expensive failure affecting every taxpayer.
Current dollar values are calculated using Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator on October 13, 2022.
Categories: Natural Gas
IN-SIGHTS 
The Chrisity Clark Government, the best government money could buy!
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From the article, it is just as bad and worse under the “stewardship” of Horgan and his team. The real problem is that unqualified elected officials make poor decisions on behalf of the people of BC with zero accountability.
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If I live another 73 years I still won’t understand why its O.K. to give profit making private corporations money, but not people who live below the poverty line or close to it. While these corporations receive all that money, many seniors are struggling to get by on $1500 a month or less. Then there are the children who live below the poverty line. Aren’t they more important than corporations?
Social agencies are reporting they are seeing a lot more seniors becoming homeless. I’m not keen on subsidizing corporations. The money would be better spent on our medical system.
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BUT, e.a.f., if you don’ subsidize private enterprise, where is the money for Party coffers going to come from?
For the “system” to be fixed, unfortunately, it must crash and burn first. We are well onto that path in many ways. DJF
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