BC Premier David Eby is drawing high praise these days for what some have described as a near-biblical conversion to the cause of LNG development in BC.
But while it’s true that his BC New Democratic Party once derided BC’s LNG hopes as “a cloud of pixie dust,” Eby himself was never publicly opposed in practice.
In his first speech as NDP leader in 2022 he did say: “We cannot continue to expand fossil-fuel infrastructure and hit our climate goals.”
But by last summer he was praising LNG Canada for “clean energy,” saying (after visiting the LNG Canada export facility) that its LNG would be 60-per-cent lower in carbon emissions than the average LNG plant around the world.
That was one day after announcing that BC province had agreed to provide $200 million to support electricity infrastructure for the Haisla Nation’s Cedar LNG project. Eby said electrification of Cedar LNG would make it “one of the lowest emission plants in the entire world.”
Premier ‘openly bullish’
And now the NDP premier is drawing such headlines as “B.C. premier David Eby openly bullish on Kitimat LNG expansion.”
That was in The Vancouver Sun, on a Vaughn Palmer column, in which Eby and federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson announced an “enhanced co-operation agreement” to advance LNG Canada’s potential Phase 2 expansion. Such expansion would double its LNG output.
Said Eby: “When — and I’m saying when, I’m very hopeful here — when LNG Canada reaches final investment decision before the end of the year, it will be the largest private-sector investment in Canadian history.”
He cited LNG Canada’s commitment to the financial resources necessary to get the final investment decision on expansion across the line.
“To us, the decision to release those hundreds of millions of dollars into moving toward final investment decision is a major vote of confidence in the project,” said Eby. “We think that’s worth celebrating.”
And: “For our province and for our economic future, ensuring that we have foreign direct investment across an array of industries, including LNG, is an important part of how we’re going to have a strong economy going forward.”
BC warms to LNG
All of which caused an international oil-and-gas magazine, Oilprice, to report: “Canada’s LNG Ambitions Grow as British Columbia Warms to Gas Exports.”
Back in July 2025, an earlier Vancouver Sun headline said: “B.C. Premier David Eby completes transition from LNG doubter with victory tour of Kitimat plant.”
That plant was the new LNG Canada operation. And Eby had this to say: ““I am so excited about this project and what it means for Canada, what it means for B.C.”
He went on: “Everybody knows that we have to transition away from fossil fuels, but, in the meantime, we should be using the lowest-carbon fossil fuels possible.
“The LNG that comes from this site is 60-percent lower-carbon than the average LNG plant in the world. It is 40-percent better in terms of carbon content than the best plants in the world.
“When we’re shipping to Japan, to Korea, to Malaysia, to China, it means that these countries are able to meaningfully reduce their carbon pollution and their carbon footprint.”
And in a blog in September 2025 we said: “Good to see British Columbia Premier David Eby firmly and frequently supporting liquefied natural gas development in BC these days.
Not the easiest path
“Not the easiest political path for him, given that some strong NDP members oppose fossil-fuel development. But a welcome one, as BC, Canada and their economies need all the help LNG exports can provide.”
We noted that Eby included a message to BC opponents of LNG development:
“We could leave Japan and Korea and Malaysia to rely on imports from Qatar, or from the U.S.,” said the premier.
“It would require longer journeys by ship, resulting in more marine emissions. It would be higher-carbon LNG, resulting in more carbon pollution. And then here at home in Canada, we would have fewer jobs, less resources for public services.
“Japan, Malaysia, Korea, China are not eliminating fossil fuels overnight. If they are using LNG, they should be using the lowest-carbon LNG in the world. They should be using Canadian LNG that’s produced ethically, that promotes environmental protection, as well as high-quality labour standards and safety standards.”
NDP ‘always a bit torn’
And in an interview on David Herle’s ‘Herle Burly’ podcast Eby said: “I come from a party that’s always a bit torn when it comes to resource development. We support the resource development. we want it done. But we’re also passionate environmentalists and concerned about climate change and protecting wild spaces and those other things as well. And so I can empathize with those tensions that are pulling in different directions.
“But what we’re trying to build . . . is a durable and ongoing support for resource development by incorporating what we feel are New Democrat values, but that are universal Canadian values, into that work.
“So when we’re doing LNG; that we’re electrifying, we’re requiring that the new proposals that come forward are electrified to minimize the emissions. Then we’re able to say with a straight face that this is the lowest-carbon LNG in the world. So that when we go to Japan and Korea and they say ‘We’re trying to drive down emissions, we would prefer to buy BC LNG because it’s lower emission,’ then we can say to ourselves, OK, we’re displacing LNG from other sites.”
Premier Eby now says he hopes to see LNG Canada’s partners decide to double the capacity of the operation. “I’m very much looking forward to be able to come back here to make the announcement about LNG Canada Phase 2.”
So are we. . . .
(Posted here 28 May 2026)
