Pacific NorthWest LNG agreement gains Legislature approval, MLA Rice does not cast vote

MLA'S ended their Summer Session
with a vote on the LNG Agreement with
Pacific NorthWest LNG

The end result of the week of a summer session of debate and discussion on the Pacific NorthWest LNG agreement was never really in doubt, the Liberal majority in the Legislature assured its passage and with a final vote late in the day on Tuesday, that approval was recorded and final assent provided.

When the final votes were counted on the agreement that sets in place the government mechanisms to develop an LNG Terminal developed on Lelu Island in Port Edward, the Liberals used their majority to full value.

At the end of the vote count 43 Liberal MLA's had provided their approval on the motion, while the NDP and Green Party joined up in opposition, casting 28 votes against the deal put together between the Liberal government and Petronas.

The approval of the Legislature was one of two conditions that Pacific NorthWest had outlined in June as key to their Final Investment Decision, the next item on their list is a successful conclusion to the ongoing Environmental Assessment Process that is underway regarding their proposal.

As for the final day of the Summer Session in Victoria, when it came to the casting of votes Tuesday afternoon, missing from the roll call and apparently absent from the Legislature, was North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice who was not listed in the recorded vote of the afternoon.

That left the work of opposing the agreement from the Northwest to fall to the two other MLA's from the region, with Skeena's Robin Austin and MLA Doug Donaldson of Stikine following up on their contributions to the debate of last week, with both casting their nay's to the recent agreement between the Province and the Malaysian energy company.

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice was not listed
as part of the final vote count on Bill 30
the LNG Project Agreement Act

Last Monday, Ms. Rice had outlined her opposition to the agreement speaking to the issue in the opening session of the summer return to the Legislature.

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice
last week during debate on
the Pacific NorthWest LNG agreement

All of which makes her unexplained absence from the final vote somewhat puzzling, considering the passion she had for the topic last week.

With the vote complete, the Agreement was then passed, with the Premier heralding the Agreement as setting the stage for unprecedented levels of investment, job creation and economic activity.

Themes that Premier Clark had touched on previously in the afternoon when she met with Mayor Dave MacDonald of Port Edward and Prince Rupert's Mayor Lee Brain on the steps of the Legislature.

Shortly after the recorded vote on the LNG agreement, the Legislature adjourned to allow MLA's to return to their summer vacations, awaiting the call from the House Leaders for their return sometime in the fall.

You can review the recording of the votes from the Legislature Video Archive, the call of the MLA's begins at 5:30 PM of the Chamber Video for Tuesday afternoon.

More background on the Pacific NorthWest LNG project can be found on our archive page.

Items of interest from the Legislature can be reviewed from our Legislature Archive page.