SITE C is the largest infrastructure project in B.C., and the largest clean energy project under construction in North America – but it’s much more than that, said Premier Christy Clark in Fort St. John on Tuesday.
“Site C means thousands of jobs and 100 years of clean, affordable, and reliable power – enough for 450,000 B.C. homes,” said Clark. “It means being ready to meet increasing demand as Canada’s leading economy continues to grow.”
As B.C. continues to build Canada’s leading economy, in the next 20 years our population is expected to grow by 1 million, and our need for power to grow by 40 per cent. Site C is the only way to reliably meet that need with clean power, she noted.
According to the Liberals, the Site C dam project means:
- Jobs:
o Thousands of jobs, from construction and operations in the Northeast to goods and services contracts throughout the province.
o Over 275 B.C. businesses have participated in Site C construction
o More than $30 million in goods and services have been purchased from Peace River Regional District
- Clean, affordable power:
o Enough to power 450,000 B.C. homes;
- Economic benefits:
o $3.2 billion to our province’s economy;
o $40 million in regional government tax revenue;
o $2.4 million per year to the Peace River Regional District;
o $35 million in annual water rental payments to the province – equivalent to the cost of building a new middle school.
- More money for communities to invest in services:
o BC Hydro has signed community benefit agreements with Hudson’s Hope, Taylor, Fort St. John and Chetwynd;
o Impact benefit agreements with the McLeod Lake Indian Band, Dene Tha’ First Nation and the Saulteau First Nation.
In January 2017 alone, Site C meant jobs for 195 Aboriginal people working for construction and non-construction contractors, 677 workers from the Peace River area, and 42 apprentices. The BC NDP and BC Greens would hand pink slips to each and every one of them, hike taxes, kill thousands of jobs, and push B.C. families to the brink, the Liberals said.
