BC Business
The once dire economic prospects of the North Coast and Nechako have reversed, turning the regions into drivers of province-wide prosperity.
The fate of Watson Island, a patch of land 15 minutes’ drive south from Prince Rupert, is emblematic of the revival of the North Coast’s economic fortunes. It was once the site of a pulp mill, the city’s largest employer with 600 workers. But the mill’s gates shut in 2001 due to cost pressures and low pulp prices. Several failed attempts to revive it later, the City of Prince Rupert became an unwilling owner as the result of a tax sale. Just maintaining the site and preventing contamination of the surrounding environment cost $1.2 million a year, an expense the economically depressed community could ill afford. The city still planned to sell the site as it paid to dismantle the mill and sell its steel for scrap in 2015. But then its thinking began to change.
“We started to see the value to the property,” says Paul Vendittelli, director of economic development and transportation for the City of Prince Rupert. Watson Island had rail, road and water access just as energy and other exporters were taking notice of Prince Rupert’s strategic location between North American and Asian markets. The city went on to secure a lease with Pembina Pipeline Corp. of Calgary to build a propane export terminal on the site. The facility started operations in 2022, creating some 75 jobs.
“We went from losing $1.2 million a year on the site to generating $5 million a year in lease revenue and taxes,” Vendittelli says. CN Rail, Bolloré Logistics and a temporary camp housing 150 workers also use the site, and Prince Rupert aims to attract a green hydrogen facility as well. For its willingness to think entrepreneurially about Watson Island, the City of Prince Rupert this year received the Community Resiliency Award from the BCEDA.
Another project nearing completion on the North Coast in Kitimat will dwarf what’s happened on Watson Island. The LNG Canada gas liquefaction plant and export terminal, which together with the Coastal GasLink pipeline from the Northeast of the province cost $40 billion, represents the largest industrial project ever undertaken on Canadian soil.
Construction activity peaked in 2023 with more than 8,000 workers on site. Now the consortium building it has entered the safe startup phase, ensuring all the components are fully operational, before commencing shipments of up to 14 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually in 2025. If all goes well, there are plans for a Phase 2 expansion that would bring output up to 26 million tonnes per year.
For the North Coast and Nechako regions, that means taking a breather from the hectic construction period and settling into regular operations at the facility, which will add to notable regional infrastructure including the Port of Prince Rupert’s now bustling container terminal and the Rio Tinto aluminum smelter.
In June the Haisla Nation and Pembina Pipeline made a final investment decision to proceed with a second gas export terminal in Kitimat, Cedar LNG, expected to be operational in 2028. The Haisla have already plowed some of the proceeds of industrial development into a new apartment complex, a health centre and a cultural centre that will help preserve the Haisla language.
And third LNG project, Ksi Lisims, backed by the Nisga’a Nation, is planned for the Prince Rupert area. Although a final investment decision has not been made, pipeline company TC Energy has issued a start work order on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project, which would supply the plant with natural gas.
The North Coast is also home to the Golden Triangle, an area rich in mining potential. Much of the $644 million spent on mining exploration in B.C. last year was focused on this region, which currently hosts the Red Chris, Brucejack and Premier mines, producing gold, silver and copper. Skeena Resources has raised sufficient funds to restart the Eskay Creek gold mine too. And there is even more excitement around critical minerals essential to the energy transition, demand for which is expected to soar.
The Kitselas and Kitsumkalum First Nations, based near Terrace, became the first Indigenous groups in a decade to conclude treaties with the B.C. government, raising hopes for further economic reconciliation in the region. If ratified by members, the Kitselas and Kitsumkalum will receive 38,000 and 46,000 hectares of land, respectively, powers of self-government and hundreds of millions of dollars in cash settlements from the federal government. The treaties would come into effect in 2028.
North Coast-Nechako: Sea Change
Other Regions
Mainland-Southwest: Ripple Effect
Vancouver Island: Welcoming Shores
Thompson-Okanagan: Urban Makeover
Kootenay: Hidden Gem
Cariboo: Pioneer Spirit
Northeast: A New Energy Era
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