Feds list Port of Vancouver’s $5.9 billion Roberts Bank Terminal 2 as project of national interest
The decision makes Terminal 2 at Canada’s largest port the second project of national importance being fast tracked by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s major projects office.
Last updated 2 days ago
The federal government has listed the Port of Vancouver’s now $5.9 billion Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion of container-handling capacity a project of national interest, the second project so designated under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s objective for expanding Canadian trade.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
- Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
- Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
- Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
- Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
- Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
- Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
- Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
- Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account.
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
- Enjoy additional articles per month.
- Get email updates from your favourite authors.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
- Enjoy additional articles per month
- Get email updates from your favourite authors
Sign In or Create an Account
Adjacent to the Deltaport container facility, Terminal 2 is the first part of the Port of Vancouver’s much broader gateway strategy that was submitted to Carney’s major projects office in July to be considered for fast-tracking, and is separate from the Alberta-to-Delta Pacific Link Pipeline proposal, which is undergoing its own, separate process.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Feds list Port of Vancouver’s $5.9 billion Roberts Bank Terminal 2 as project of national interest Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
The decision to declare Terminal 2, which already has federal environmental approval, a national priority will help smooth over any regulatory issues on the way to the project’s final permitting, according to federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, who was in Delta for the announcement.
Under low clouds and persistent drizzle at a makeshift podium at Deltaport’s bustling terminal, MacKinnon said the Terminal 2 project “moves the dial for our country” in terms of Carney’s ambitions to double Canada’s non-U.S. trade by 2035.
The project calls for filling in a new, 1.3-square-kilometre island adjacent to the existing Deltaport terminal on Roberts Bank and construction of a new three-berth container facility to handle 2.4 million twenty-foot-equivalent units per year of cargo, increasing capacity of the port, already Canada’s biggest, by 50 per cent.
While the listing doesn’t shift any of the project’s timelines, early design and engineering work is slated to start in 2027, with the port to make a final investment decision by September. MacKinnon said the designation will add to its certainty as it travels through final permitting.
Peter Xotta, CEO of the port’s governing Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, said that after 13 years of work, his team has felt momentum for the project increase, and they will be looking to increase its pace.
-
Advertisement 1Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
“There have been times that even we didn’t think it would happen,” Xotta said. “But, wow, here we are making a huge step forward to make this project a reality.”
MacKinnon and Xotta were joined at Friday’s event by Tsawwassen First Nation Chief Laura Cassidy, premier-designate Lorne Doerkson, and a wide roster of Lower Mainland MPs, as well as elected officials from around Metro Vancouver to underline its regional importance.
Terminal 2 is still contentious for its potential environmental impacts. Cassidy, who noted that the project is proceeding in partnership with the Tsawwassen, said her Nation will be holding it to its commitments to be built sustainably.
Cassidy said the Tsawwassen’s “position on the RBT2 is one of consent, but not unconditional support.”
“We continue to have concerns about the impacts of the project and the long-term health of the Fraser River estuary and the Salish Sea,” she added.
And as the project proceeds, Cassidy said the Tsawwassen will hold to the principle that “it is not enough to simply minimize impacts. We must leave the environment better than we found it.”
The federal environmental approval of the project acknowledged that cumulative effects of Terminal 2 would likely have adverse impacts on southern resident killer whale populations and the habitat of chinook salmon.
As Friday’s news conference was going on in Delta, critics of the project were sounding their continued opposition.
The Wilderness Committee, one of the lead opposition groups, condemned Ottawa’s listing of the project, arguing that timing of the decision appears to avoid its arguably most important permit related to protections for southern resident killer whales, which puts them at greater risk for extinction.
“Extinction is a political decision Prime Minister Mark Carney has shown he’s quite comfortable with,” said Lucero Gonzalez, the Wilderness Committee’s conservation and policy campaigner.
She argued that is the risk Carney’s government is now taking by fast-tracking Terminal 2 and the Pacific Link Pipeline, which will add environmental impacts at Roberts Bank.
“The extinction of the endangered southern resident killer whales will not be an accident. It will be the result of political choices, one of which was made today. It is a decision that we cannot afford to accept, and we will not.”
However, MacKinnon said government stands by the environmental commitments written into Terminal 2’s permits. He added that Ottawa has also increased resources devoted to ocean protection.
MacKinnon said the work will build on “and continue the absolutely vital conservation and other work that goes into final permits.”
“When you’re dealing with projects of this scope and size and cost, time is money,” MacKinnon said. “And after 13 years of looking at this from every possible angle, it is time to decide to move (forward) in the interest of the country, but in the interest also of following through on that robust series, dozens and hundreds of environmental commitments that have already been made,” he added.
