LNG Critics' Lack of Expertise Creates Credibility Gap

The debate around British Columbia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) build out is often framed in a way that pits advocacy groups against project proponents. However, there's a credibility gap between these two sides.

While critics like David Suzuki argue that LNG is a dead end, a fiscal boondoggle, or a climate betrayal, the institutions financing and regulating projects are focused on the technical aspects of production, such as off-take agreements, power supply, engineering risk, and Indigenous governance.

The first large-scale LNG export facility, LNG Canada in Kitimat, loaded its first cargo on June 30, 2025, and brought its second processing unit into production in November 2025. A report by Norton Rose Fulbright notes that 2025 was a pivot year for the industry, with LNG Canada starting exports and other projects advancing.

Opponents of LNG claim that the province is betting on an industry facing oversupply, but project partners have incentives that are 'brutally simple': if they don't ship LNG at competitive cost, their facility fails. Indigenous ownership is also a defining difference between Canada's LNG build out and older models of resource development.