Thirteen years after B.C. politicians first started talking about it, actual liquefied natural gas was produced this week off the province’s north coast.

Once the cornerstone of former BC Liberal premier Christy Clark’s political agenda, the actual operation of LNG Canada in Kitimat officially began June 22 under BC NDP Premier David Eby.

“The potential of LNG is once in a generation,” Clark said in 2012.

She went on to infamously overplay the promise, suggesting the first of five facilities would be online by 2015 and the industry would go on to generate $1 trillion in GDP revenue to eventually eliminate the provincial debt. It didn’t happen.

The rationale, though, sounds familiar: To respond to global economic turmoil by diversifying B.C.’s trading partners and leaning into its natural resources advantages.

“B.C. has plenty of natural advantages, including abundant natural resources, and Canada's gateway to the fast-growing economies of Asia-Pacific, which is increasingly important,” Clark wrote in April 2013.

“My three main priorities are growing the economy, protecting the jobs families depend on, and securing a prosperous future........

© BIV