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Claire Rattée, MLA for Skeena, posted a Facebook Reel saying she was asked to leave the chamber after challenging Premier David Eby over remarks about LNG Canada and Northern B.C. resource jobs.

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Claire Rattée’s Facebook Reel landed because it has all the ingredients that move political traffic: a legislature confrontation, a Northern B.C. jobs fight, a premier accused of rewriting history, and a simple question that cuts through the spin — who actually stood with LNG workers when the project needed defenders?

Rattée says she was asked to leave the chamber after calling out Premier David Eby over remarks she believed were false and misleading about her record and the record of opposition MLAs on LNG development. The clip is already being watched and shared widely because the argument is bigger than one exchange in Victoria.

The issue is whether the NDP can now wrap itself in LNG Canada’s jobs and revenue story while minimizing the people, municipalities, workers, First Nations partners and local leaders who fought for the project through years of uncertainty.

Northern B.C. does not need another government photo-op. It needs honesty about who built the opportunity and who is now trying to claim the credit.

LNG Canada was not born yesterday

LNG Canada’s first phase reached a positive final investment decision on October 1, 2018. LNG Canada itself described the decision as the result of work involving its joint venture participants, the Haisla Nation, local communities, First Nations, governments, business, labour and many others. The B.C. government’s own project page also states that LNG Canada announced its final investment decision on October 1, 2018.

That matters because today’s political fight is not about whether LNG Canada is important. Everyone can now see it is important. The fight is about political memory. Northern communities remember the long road to get LNG Canada built. They remember who treated resource development as a lifeline for jobs, trades, local revenue and Indigenous economic partnership — and who treated it as an awkward file until it became politically convenient.

Eby wants Carney to cheer for B.C. projects

This week, Premier Eby was publicly pressing Prime Minister Mark Carney to show the same enthusiasm for B.C. projects that he has shown for Alberta. Canadian Press reporting carried by CityNews said Eby wanted Ottawa to recognize the scale of B.C. opportunities, including energy and major projects. A separate Canadian Press report said Eby and federal officials had touted a milestone around LNG Canada expansion planning in Kitimat.

Fine. B.C. should fight for major projects. B.C. should fight for LNG, mining, ports, electricity transmission, forestry, natural gas, and the jobs that come with them. But that argument would be far stronger if the NDP stopped trying to make itself the hero of every project that survived despite years of regulatory, political and activist pressure.

The North remembers

Rattée’s point is politically potent because Skeena and Kitimat are not abstract places on a ministerial briefing note. They are communities where LNG Canada means paycheques, apprenticeships, hotel nights, supply contracts, municipal confidence and long-term industrial identity.

When Victoria talks about “projects,” Northern B.C. hears something more concrete: whether families can stay, whether young people can work close to home, whether tradespeople have a future, whether First Nations economic partnerships can actually proceed, and whether B.C. can still build anything at scale.

Questions Eby should answer

  • Does the Premier acknowledge the local and regional leaders who fought for LNG Canada before it became convenient for Victoria?
  • Will the NDP stop using resource workers as props while keeping project approvals trapped in uncertainty?
  • Will B.C. defend LNG Canada Phase 2 with the same urgency it brings to photo opportunities?

The traffic lesson: video drives the issue

This is also a lesson for anyone trying to hold the NDP accountable online. The Bonnie Henry class-action article moved traffic because it had a clear conflict and an issue people could understand. Rattée’s Reel has the same structure: a recognizable opponent, a specific regional grievance, and a clip people can share without reading a policy paper first.

That does not mean the article should become reckless. It means the video should be used as the entry point, and the record should do the heavy lifting behind it. The record shows LNG Canada’s first phase was the product of years of work by many people and institutions — not a sudden gift from the current NDP messaging machine.

The bottom line: if Premier Eby wants Ottawa to cheer for B.C. resource projects, he should start by respecting the Northern B.C. communities and opposition voices that were already cheering for them before the NDP discovered the applause line.