C&C #33: Forty Billion Dollars, Maybe Next Month

Reuters says the partners in LNG Canada could approve a second $40-billion plant in Kitimat as early as October. Two days after the investment summit closed, the first real deal is on the table. Meanwhile David Eby says he's getting ready for an election, half of B.C. says it has no party worth cheering for, and Alberta's own report puts the price of leaving Canada at up to $170 billion.

Episode 33 of ICBA Coffee & Construction — the news that matters to the people who build British Columbia and Alberta, with ICBA's Jordan Bateman. On today's show:

☕ THE BIG ONE: LNG Canada Phase 2. Three sources tell Reuters a final investment decision could come as early as October. Two more trains, another 14 MILLION tonnes a year, and the biggest private construction decision in B.C. since Phase 1. Shell says the decision depends on "competitiveness and affordability, government support and stakeholder needs." Victoria, that's your cue.

🗳️ Eby tells his caucus to be "election ready." A one-seat majority, nine Conservative defections, and Angus Reid's new numbers: NDP 41, Conservatives 37, and 51% of British Columbians calling themselves political orphans. Plus the report card nobody in Victoria wants to talk about: B.C.'s population is shrinking for the first time in 151 years.

🚧 Three shovels in the ground. Emil Anderson gets the $119.4-MILLION Peardonville Road crossing on Highway 1 in Abbotsford, starting nine days before the byelection. Calgary Airports breaks ground on a $40-million aviation training centre. JWest starts its $234-million first phase at Oak and 41st.

💸 Alberta's government puts a price on separation: $50 billion to $170 BILLION over five years, 70,000 new civil servants, and a hardball scenario where the economy shrinks 16.2%. Finance Minister Jason Nixon says that's why the answer on October 19 is No.

🌉 ICBA files on Roberts Bank Terminal 2: 18,000 construction jobs, a port ranked 375th of 405, and 13 years in the federal system. Chris Gardner: "Canada's permitting system is where good projects go to stall."

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