Economists challenge Woodfibre LNG study’s projected economic gains
Economists have questioned Woodfibre LNG-commissioned projections, creating added uncertainty around the project’s anticipated employment, tax and regional-growth benefits.
Economists are challenging the scale of economic benefits projected in an impact assessment commissioned by Woodfibre LNG as the export facility near Squamish approaches completion. The Deetken Insight study projects that construction of the facility and FortisBC’s Eagle Mountain Pipeline would contribute about $7 billion to GDP, generate nearly $13.6 billion in economic output, support more than 52,000 job-years and produce roughly $3.6 billion in labour income. The study said construction at the Woodfibre site was more than 70 per cent complete as of September 2026. [1]
Marc Lee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said the assessment uses assumptions that materially inflate expected GDP and employment results. He focused on the study’s estimate of 18,145 direct job-years from the LNG facility, compared with Woodfibre LNG’s stated peak on-site construction workforce of 1,500. Lee said that, over a four-year construction period, that peak workforce would imply 6,000 job-years, although Woodfibre LNG said a direct comparison does not capture workers off rotation, off site or connected to the pipeline. [1]
Werner Antweiler, an environmental economics professor at the University of British Columbia, also said the projected job figures appeared unusually high and warranted further examination. He questioned whether off-site employment had been sufficiently substantiated. Both economists further criticized the study’s projected $11.6 billion in government tax and royalty revenue, with Antweiler saying the 40-year total was presented without discounting future amounts to present value. [1]
The disagreement does not establish that the project will fail to deliver economic activity, but it weakens confidence in the headline estimates being used to describe its prospective regional contribution. Antweiler also noted that the commissioned assessment concentrated on benefits and did not include emissions-related or other community costs. Woodfibre LNG said peak workforce figures do not reflect everyone who has worked, or could work, on the site and related project activity over time. [1]
For businesses, local governments and suppliers, the immediate implication is greater uncertainty around planning assumptions tied to construction employment, labour income and public revenues. The facility is expected to be completed in 2027, while municipal tax arrangements with the District of Squamish remain unresolved after the district rejected a proposed $142-million, 10-year agreement nearly a month before the report. [1]
This is a localized, moderate-significance development: economists have contested major GDP, employment, labour-income and tax-revenue projections in a Woodfibre LNG-commissioned assessment, affecting the credibility of expected benefits for Squamish-area governments, workers and suppliers. The rating is not higher because the reporting concerns projections and methodology rather than a confirmed change to construction progress, operating plans, export volumes or Canada-U.S. energy trade. [1]