British Columbia and Canada's Resource Future

British Columbia’s election brings a lasting resource question into an immediate political choice: what should citizens expect when governments make commitments whose consequences survive them? This article examines how public coordination can connect power, transport, customers, skills and finance to make useful investments possible. It follows British Columbia’s coastal role in Alberta’s export strategy, LNG development, royalty administration and domestic processing opportunities. The analysis distinguishes private profitability, public fiscal exposure, wider social effects and nonmarket purposes, while confronting the possibility that public support merely transfers losses to taxpayers. The argument connects public ambition with competent delivery and intergenerational responsibility. Future people inherit financial assets alongside productive capabilities, public services, debt, environmental obligations and institutions able to learn from failure.