B.C.’s new minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources, Bill Bennett, counts the proposed Site C hydroelectric dam and northwest transmission line power projects among his top priorities. But that’s not all he’s focused on.
“I have to say oil and gas provides 55% of the natural resource revenues to our government … we have to keep our oil and gas sector healthy and keep them investing in B.C.,” said Bennett, Liberal MLA for Kootenay East. “If that really dropped off seriously we would be in a bad way to find the money we need for health care and education.”
Bennett inherited the province’s energy and resources portfolio after former cabinet minister Blair Lekstrom resigned over the HST on June 11. Bennett, the former minister of state for mining, spoke with BIV just a few days into his new job.
He laid out plans to improve the relationship between BC Hydro and independent power producers, streamline the permitting process for mining projects and gave his stance on the HST, all of which can be found in this week’s print edition of BIV.
The agreements between First Nations groups and energy producers in northeast B.C. could be a model for the rest of the province, he said, and investment from overseas will continue to be crucial for the development and profitability of the resource sector.
“There’s issues as you know around pipelines in the north to bring oil and gas through to the West Coast, obviously we need to open up new markets in Asia for those products,” he said. “We can’t rely entirely on the United States any more, so [there is] lots and lots of potential for this ministry to facilitate more exports to Asia and more investments from there to here.”