As Carney advances Vancouver port expansion, environmentalists raise concern for at-risk species

Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-09-05 08:00:00.0
Tags: [National, British Columbia, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment, Climate]

The federal government has issued a mandatory notice under the Building Canada Act to designate the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 port expansion project in Vancouver as a project of national interest, initiating a 30-day consultation period. Led by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, the $10 billion three-berth container terminal expansion—backed by a federal-provincial funding agreement—aims to increase port capacity by nearly 50 per cent and generate $100 billion in annual trade capacity. Environmental groups, including Environmental Defence, and biological scientists have raised concerns that national-interest status could fast-track approvals and give Prime Minister Mark Carney's cabinet discretionary power to bypass environmental safeguards under the Species at Risk Act, potentially threatening endangered southern resident killer whales and chinook salmon habitats within the Fraser River Estuary.