https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
In this northern B.C. port town, voters used to booms and busts are now caught between both at once
Kitimat’s construction boom is tapering off. The Help Wanted signs that used to decorate businesses are coming down. And hotel rooms in the northern B.C. port city are no longer packed with construction workers, as the process of building a new, $18-billion gas terminal winds down at the harbour.
But judging by the abundance of $80,000 pickup trucks, the local economy is still going gangbusters. Residents here have learned to be cautiously optimistic in the face of economic threat, and also restrained in their enthusiasm when things are looking up. Right now, they’re having to do both at the same time.
“Whether we’re booming or busting depends on the commodity markets,” Haisla novelist and local resident Eden Robinson said. “That’s the reality of a company town.” LNG Canada, the $40-billion liquefied natural gas project that helped transform this tiny northern burg of 8,500 from doom town to boom town, will kick off Canada’s bid to become a global energy player when it comes online later this spring. That’s when the country will, for the first time, begin exporting its gas to somewhere other than the United States.
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