B.C. parties put growth and deficit plans at campaign center

British Columbia’s main party leaders put economic growth and deficit reduction at the center of their second week of campaigning, as NDP Leader David Eby promoted resource-export plans and Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson pledged to expand liquefied natural gas production. Separately, Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed LNG Canada’s final investment decision on its Phase 2 expansion, which Eby said would bring jobs and revenue to the province. Eby said the LNG project would create 4,000 construction jobs and generate $28 billion in government revenue. Those figures are projections cited by Eby, not realized results. The supplied account did not detail a construction schedule or the remaining steps for the expansion. The NDP credited Eby with securing the investment, while Carney said governments, First Nations, businesses, workers and northern communities had worked in the same direction. In Prince Rupert on Monday, Eby said an NDP government would seek to double critical-mineral exports and expand the city’s port so it would become Canada’s second-largest of its kind by 2030.