It was a point made by Parksville-Qualicum Independent MLA Adam Walker in November during question period at the legislature.
“Members in this house know that our largest export is energy products, and in 2022, we saw a massive increase, a doubling of the value of coal exports in British Columbia,” Walker said. “There is a lack of common sense when the premier, in defending the CleanBC plan, points to a doubling of coal exports as a measure of success.”
The government had been under fire from BC United MLAs who pointed to a Business Council of BC report they said showed a rising carbon tax would damage the province’s economy.
The response from the government was to question the report’s conclusions and the opposition’s interpretation of them, and to stress that despite having a carbon tax in place since 2008, the province’s economy has been one of the strongest in the country, with a low unemployment rate.
Walker, who was dumped from the NDP caucus in September over a complaint about his management of staff in his constituency office, wanted to know how major energy projects — the Trans Mountain pipeline, the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat and the Coastal GasLink pipeline — would add to B.C.’s carbon emissions.
“What are the emissions that we will see in British Columbia from these projects,” he asked, “for the pipeline, for the compressor stations and for the fuel that we use to transfer this energy across the world?”
Walker, by the way, tag-teamed with Adam Olsen, Green MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, during the debate of housing bills this fall and turned up in Courtenay on Nov. 17 for the announcement of the BC Green Party’s candidate in Courtenay-Comox, Arzeena Hamir.
“In addition to that, we’re bringing in an emissions cap on the oil and gas sector to meet their sectoral target of 33 to 38 per cent,” Heyman said. “The member should know that coal exports from British Columbia are metallurgical coal, among the least carbon-intensive coal in the world, and it is used to make steel for things like wind turbines and many other facets of the clean economy.”
Walker said it matters little to the climate what kind of coal B.C. is exporting. “That coal gets burned,” he said. “Whether it’s used to create energy or used to create steel, it still represents significant emissions.”
According to the most recent figures available from BC Stats, the provincial government’s statistics office, coal and natural gas together accounted for nearly 31 per cent of B.C.’s exports.
In the first eight months of the year, the export of those two fuels was worth $10.8 billion.
