Liquified natural gas (LNG) will create a new pool of employment for northern B.C., according to Industry Training Authority CEO Kevin Evans.
In an interview Friday, Evans said Premier Christy Clark effectively announced the "birth of a new industry in British Columbia," with the decision to soften BC Hydro's self-sufficiency mandate and free up power to run the massive refrigerators required to cool and condense natural gas into a liquid form for shipment overseas.
"What that means for skills training is we're going to have to develop some new training programs for some new kinds of skilled trades," Evans said.
"Certainly, pipefitters and welders and millwrights will all be needed for construction and operation of these LNG plants but I suspect, and we're going to have to talk to
industry about this, there are going to be new competencies required for a new industry."
At least two LNG plants are to be built in Kitimat to process gas shipped by pipeline from the B.C. Peace, but Prince George will benefit too, Evans said and will add to the 3,210 openings for trades occupations expected to emerge in the Cariboo economic region from now to 2020.
The provincial government predicts development of LNG will generate $20 billion in new private sector investment, creating 800 new long-term jobs in LNG facilities and up to 9,000 more jobs during construction of the plants and the
Pacific Trails natural gas pipeline.
"For me, it's 'roll up your sleeves time,'" Evans said.
Regional tables made up of industry, labour, education and aboriginal representatives have been established to determine labour supply needs, "because planning is now going to be more important than ever before."
And Evans suggested young people considering career options to "step back" and reconsider the stereotypes associated with the skilled trades - that jobs are seasonal, spotty and difficult to support a family on.
"What these announcements today add to is there are going to be, for at least the rest of this decade, a steady demand for skilled trades people," Evans said.
Cariboo North independent MLA Bob Simpson agreed with Evans that Prince George will benefit but argued it's a result of subsidizing natural gas in a depressed market through such breaks as heavily-reduced royalties and free access to water for extraction in the
northeast.
The province gets less than $1 billion in royalties from natural gas to help cover a $44 billion budget, Simpson said.
"If it was a true free market, there would be no shale gas activity in B.C.," Simpson contended.
