David Black to seek federal loan guarantees for proposed Kitimat refinery

CALGARY – A West Coast newspaper owner with a $26-billion plan to refine oilsands crude says he’ll be seeking loan guarantees from Ottawa in support the proposed project.

David Black says he plans to approach the federal government in the spring and ask it to guarantee about one third of the total financing it needs for a new facility near Kitimat B.C.

That doesn’t involve Ottawa putting up the money, but a federal guarantee would enable Black’s company, Kitimat Clean Ltd., to secure loans at a lower cost.

Black told reporters on the sidelines of a Calgary energy conference that there’s no reason to expect the feds to say no.

He says there’s precedent for deals like the one he’ll be seeking, such as Ottawa’s $1-billion loan guarantee for the $7.7-billion Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador.

Black says Chinese backers initially agreed to provide all the financing, but now they’re willing to put up 70 per cent and want Canada to have more “skin in the game.”