Sunday August 3, 2025 | VANCOUVER, BC [Posted at 10 am | Updated 2:33 & 3:12 & 3:39 & 6:14 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social trends
Today Prime Minister Mark Carney took a quick tour the Port of Vancouver this morning on BC Day long weekend.
Then he had a meeting with Premier David Eby.
“Met with Premier @Dave_Eby in Vancouver today. We discussed getting major projects built and supporting B.C. industries, like softwood lumber, in the face of a rapidly shifting global trade landscape. We’re going to build big things in Canada again — with Canadian materials and Canadian workers,” said Carney in a post on X later in the afternoon.
Context:
Carney was in Vancouver last night for a Liberal fundraiser.
Earlier this summer Eby led a BC trade mission to Asia.
Carney’s comments in Vancouver:
“Yes, we’ll come to something constructive with the Americans,” Carney told media while at the parade today in Vancouver.
He said Canada will build a strong economy including BC, continuing along the lines of ‘building one economy’ and keeping ‘Canada strong’.
“Building in a Canadian way, building sustainably, building together, building positively… that’s what we’re going to do,” said Carney.
“Canada has what the world needs — and we’re ready to export more of it,” posted Prime Minister Carney on X after his tour and meeting today in Vancouver.
“At the Port of Vancouver today to talk about how we can ship to international markets more efficiently. As we strengthen and diversify our trade partnerships, we’re making sure industries and workers have the tools they need to meet that demand,” he posted.
Project of national significance:
The significance of the port visit and tour at this time is that Carney is in the midst of a process to determining one or more ‘projects of national significance’ for strengthening Canada’s domestic economy while decreasing reliance on the economic benefits of exporting resources and goods to the United States.
An August 1 deadline came and went for a ‘deal’ to be achieved between Canada and the United States. Officially, the CUSMA/USMCA agreement still holds so there is no absolute requirement for Canada to have a separate or new deal with the United States.
Eby identified the Port of Vancouver earlier this year as a key economic linchpin for increasing Canadian exports to the Asia-Pacific region. He frequently does media announcements with the Vancouver harbour in the background.
Just last week Eby highlighted the shipments of LNG from the LNG Canada facility at Kitimat in northwestern BC; that will increase tax revenues to BC for decades to come, helping put BC on Eby’s promised path of BC becoming “the economic engine of Canada”.
The fentanyl factor:
In the meantime a 35% level of tariffs applies to all non-CUSMA-compliant goods (as activated by US President Trump on August 1), up from 25%. The White House says the tariff is applied due to what it said was Canada’s failure to stop fentanyl smuggling.
Some fentanyl smuggling does occur through shipping, believed to be in cargo containers of which apparently only one percent are checked when arriving at Canadian ports.
So for the prime minster and premier to visit the Port of Vancouver at this time is part of dealing with the fentanyl-related challenge by the US (as related to tariffs) but also to possibly see the large oceanside port be included in any federal funding of national economic development projects.
Port of Vancouver Terminal 2 would enable $100 billion in trade:
In mid-May of this year, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said it will issue a request for qualifications in July 2025 for a construction partner to deliver the landmass and wharf component of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project—a significant step towards delivering the project.
“The new marine container terminal at the Port of Vancouver is a transformational, nation building project that will support Canada’s economic security and trade resilience, enabling the trade of more than $100 billion in goods annually once fully operational,” as stated by the port authority.
The project would include a widened causeway and expanded tug basin.
The new marine container terminal at the Port of Vancouver is a transformational, nation building project that will support Canada’s economic security and trade resilience, enabling the trade of more than $100 billion in goods annually once fully operational.
More than 18,000 jobs are projected to be created during construction. Once operational the new terminal is anticipated to generate more than 17,000 well-paying, long-term jobs and add more than $3 billion in GDP annually.
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