KITAMAAT VILLAGE — British Columbia Premier David Eby says Canadian values will help the country "win this race" to deliver liquefied natural gas to Asian markets, even as U.S. President Donald Trump sets his sights on developing the industry in Alaska.
Eby told a news conference on Tuesday that Canada is a reliable partner, which can deliver the fuel to Asia in a direct, affordable way, while Trump has been "insulting and demeaning" towards other countries and insists his only concern is America.
The premier's remarks came as his government announced a $200-million agreement with the Haisla Nation to support infrastructure for the Cedar LNG project, a floating liquefied natural gas terminal that will be located near Kitimat on B.C.'s northern coast.
He says the funding will help the nation build infrastructure, including a new electricity transmission line and distribution lines to power the facility.
Eby hailed Cedar LNG as the world's first Indigenous majority-owned liquefied natural gas facility, saying it represents a "model" for resource development that will help diversify the Canadian economy and reduce reliance on the United States.
The premier says Trump has meanwhile shown he will make "arbitrary and extrajudicial decisions on a whim," announcing them through his own social media platform, Truth Social, and cannot be relied on as a trading partner.
"If you are a government in Asia looking for reliable energy sources that you can count on and a partner that you can count on, that isn't suddenly going to cut off your access to energy, that isn't suddenly going to massively increase the tariffs on the energy or taxes on the energy that you're purchasing, then nobody, nobody would be looking at the United States right now," the premier says.
He noted the first large-scale shipment of fuel from the LNG Canada facility, another export terminal in Kitimat, departed for Asia earlier this summer.
Eby's comments come a few weeks after Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan and Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a statement applauding Trump's support for the natural gas industry in the state during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
The U.S. lawmakers' statement quotes Trump as saying "Japan will soon begin importing historic new shipments of clean American liquefied natural gas in record numbers" and discussing a "joint venture" between the two countries.
Sullivan says in the statement that Alaskans are ready to work with Trump and Japan to "realize a dream (they) have been pursuing for almost half a century."
"With (Trump's) leadership, we will get the Alaska LNG Project built, which will create thousands of good-paying jobs, reinvigorate our American steel industry, significantly reduce our trade deficit in Asia, and deliver clean-burning Alaska gas for Americans, our military, and our allies in the Asia-Pacific, like Japan," the statement says.
The Haisla Nation has partnered with Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. for the Cedar LNG project, which is scheduled to come online in late 2028.
A statement from Eby's office and the Energy Ministry says the provincial funding complements $200 million in federal funding announced earlier this year.
The BC Green Party issued a statement later Tuesday saying the government's decision to provide funding to another liquefied natural gas project is "irresponsible" and prolongs the province's dependence on fossil fuels.
"Fossil fuel expansion contradicts achieving the province's legislated emissions reduction targets — which we have already failed to meet," says the statement from interim Green Leader Jeremy Valeriote.
"The government's continued inaction when it comes to the climate, and their disingenuous greenwashing of LNG as 'clean' energy is a distraction from their climate action failures," it says.
Valeriote says the province should instead invest in economic pathways towards long-term sustainability, public health and community well-being.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.
The Canadian Press
