Prime Minister Mark Carney at the Port of Vancouver on July 30, 2026. [livestream]
Thursday July 30, 2026 | VANCOUVER, BC [Posted at 12:01 pm PT}
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
A tour of the Port of Vancouver by Prime Minister Mark Carney today included a brief statement to media.
Prime Minister Mark Carney at the Port of Vancouver on July 30, 2026. [livestream]
“More than a billion dollars of goods move through this port every single day. When you look at the capacity of Port of Vancouver it’s bigger than the capacity of the next five biggest ports in Canada combined,” said Carney.
“But within the next decade it’s not going to be enough,” he stated flat out. “And it’s certainly not going to be enough if we’re going to grow this economcy and become stronger, more indepedent, more diversified, and trade more with other parts of the world which is what our intention is to do,” said Carney.
Prime Minister Mark Carney at the Port of Vancouver for a tour on Aug 3, 2025. [X]
This is Carney’s second tour of the port in the last year.
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It’s all connected:
“We’re looking — at the Major Projects Office — at expanding this port. But everything’s connected. Expanding the port requires increasing the capacity and the efficiency of our rail system, and working to enhance exports of energy and others,” the prime minister said today.
So far, BC has more than 40% of the national projects that are under consideration at the Major Projects Office.
In order to seize the opportunities of increased shipping, the federal government is looking to invest more than $10 billion to help expand the port, grow our exports away from the United States by more than 50 percent, create over 18,000 jobs in the construction of that, and another 17,000 jobs full time in the operation of that additional capacity.
That’s not including all the businesses and knock-on effects. He cited an example of a canola farm in Alberta where he visited yesterday, that would expand their operations if there were to be enhanced export capacity.
To seize these opportunities it means “doing several things at the same time, and that’s our intention”, said Carney today.
Cooperation with First Nations:
He emphasized the continuing cooperation with various First Nations. Carney said it’s important “to build inclusively with Indigenous partners” so as to share in the economic benefits and assure that the incredible natural resources that we have, including heritage, is not just preserved but enhanced.
Protection of the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SKRW), aka orcas (with hundreds of millions coming with the Pacific Salmon Strategy) and a broader ocean protection strategy ($3.5 billion) was mentioned by Carney as part of the work being done. He seemed to tie that in with Indigenous concerns, even though ocean and ocean life protection is broader than that.
He looped in providing economic opportunity for First Nations including housing and “fully participating in the expansions here” and “developing new ways of partnerships between us”. He specifically thanked Chief Laura Cassidy of Tsawwassen First Nation and Chief Wayne Sparrow of the Musqueam for being on site at the port for today’s tour.
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NEWS SECTIONS: SHIPPING & TRANSPORT | TRADE DIVERSIFICATION