Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon has announced the Port of Vancouver Gateway Strategy is being referred to the Major Projects Office.
MacKinnon said the strategy supports Canada’s goal of doubling exports to non-U.S. markets by 2035.
Its first key pillar is around Roberts Bank Terminal 2 in Delta, B.C., which will be referred to the Major Projects Office for “potential listing as a project of national interest,” according to a federal government news release.
The project, led by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, is a proposed three-berth container terminal at Roberts Bank that is expected to “increase the Port’s container capacity by 50 per cent enabling $100 billion of new container trade capacity annually.”
Chief Laura Cassidy of Tsawwassen First Nation said the impacts of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, located in the nation’s traditional and treaty territory, will be felt most directly by the nation.
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She said the project is “subject to hundreds of enforceable conditions designed to protect Tsawwassen interests.”
“Our consent to the project was based on this detailed work. Those commitments cannot be weakened or set aside in the name of efficiency or expediency,” Cassidy said.
Port president and CEO Peter Xotta said the relationship with Tsawwassen First Nation is “core” to how the port will move forward.
Xotta said the announcement is “game changing” and added the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project is ready to go.
“Land … marine, bulk and rail infrastructure is all needed if we’re going to step up as a country and rise to the occasion,” he said.
The Port of Vancouver moves $1 billion in goods every day, according to the news release, and handles 40 per cent of Canada’s trade in goods beyond North America.
