SOURCE: PORT METRO
VANCOUVER
there will be no negative impacts
as a result of that project.
One of the criticisms is that
the port did not account for cli-
mate change in the environmen-
tal assessment process despite
doing so in other activities—such
as when it plans new construc-
tion along the shoreline.
It's not a fair criticism. Under
the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act, which are the
rules that we have to follow,
there's not a requirement to
consider climate change as a
result of the use of the commod-
ity being traded.
In the winter of 2014, the port
was paralyzed for months by
labour action on the part of
truckers who were complain-
ing about traffic congestion
and low pay. Have the factors
that led to that labour strife
been resolved?
For the most part, yes. But is
it completely resolved? No.
We're following through with
a process that the federal
government and the provincial
government in particular have
implemented. That process is
bringing a lot more stability to
the trucking sector, with new
regulations and a new commis-
sioner, Corinn Bell, to oversee
those regulations. And we've
got a lot of improvements tak-
ing place: all the trucks serving
the gateway now use
GPS, and
we know from the
GPS that the
turnaround in the port termi-
nals averages between 30 and
40 minutes; that was one of the
big flashpoints, with truckers
saying it was taking two hours
to get a load. So that's been
addressed: turn times are now
best-in-class in North America.
Do you have any specific
policy requests for the new
Trudeau government?
They've laid out an ambitious
[infrastructure] agenda—and as
we're strong advocates of these
types of things, we're really
pleased to see it and we want
to see it happen quickly in the
Lower Mainland. But when we
look at the environmental com-
mitments they've made, I think
there's a huge need to restore
public faith in the environmen-
tal assessment process.
Has the role of the port
become more controversial
since you started in 2009?
Yes, I would say so—but also
there are bigger opportunities,
which makes it exciting. We
have a huge opportunity in the
Lower Mainland as Canada's
face to Asia. And we're Canada's
artery for trade. If we weren't
growing and if the things we
were doing weren't getting atten-
tion, we wouldn't have the same
opportunities we have today.
•
THE PORT'S TOP
SOURCES OF
INBOUND CARGO*
China: 7 million
United States:
2 million
South Korea:
1.5 million
Morocco: 915,000
*in metric tonnes,
by country in 2014
