Prime Minister Mark Carney announced $1.2 billion in federal funding for ocean protections Tuesday, as the country moves toward decisions on a new pipeline to the West Coast and the expansion of a major port in Metro Vancouver.

The major projects would mean “more ships on the water and more pressure on the habitats that we are all working to protect,” Carney said.

“We must scale up our systems to protect marine life in the event that something goes wrong,” he said.

The funds have been earmarked for several new measures, including expanding the Canadian Coast Guard’s capacity to monitor marine traffic, a national near-shore weather forecasting system and a marine mammal oil spill response plan.

Carney said the work will also involve upgrading search and rescue stations and improving seabed mapping and fisheries conservation efforts.

The announcement in North Vancouver came ahead of a Thursday deadline for Ottawa to decide whether to designate a proposed pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s south coast as a project of national interest.

“This project would diversify our economy, create almost 150,000 new jobs right across Canada, and make us much less dependent on the United States,” Carney said.

“But we know it’s not just what we build, it’s how we build. And this government is taking a protect-while-we-build approach to new investments.”

Carney said the proposed pipeline would avoid “highly sensitive areas” and its route would be similar to the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, while the tanker ban along B.C.’s north coast will remain in effect.

Albertans head to the polls in a matter of weeks to vote in a referendum on separating from Canada.

Earlier in the day, LNG Canada confirmed it will proceed with a Phase 2 expansion of its facility in Kitimat, B.C., a project that would double its capacity.

Port expansion

Carney has also previously backed the proposed expansion of the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank terminal, telling reporters during a visit to the facility in July that his government was looking to provide about $10 billion for the project, part of Ottawa’s effort to “grow our exports away from the United States.”

The port was “already at such tight capacity,” Carney said Tuesday, and the expansion would help Canada “trade more with different partners, to diversify, to reinforce our sovereignty.”

As more ships dock at the Port of Vancouver, he said the government must bolster measures for protecting the ocean and marine life, including the endangered southern resident killer whales that depend on waters off B.C.’s south coast.

Carney highlighted plans to address underwater noise that affects whales, saying Ottawa is providing $100 million to build long-term capacity to monitor, assess and mitigate the noise along all three coasts, Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic.

In waters off Vancouver, he said Ottawa was setting a goal to hold underwater noise to 2023 levels, even as vessel traffic increases.

There will be “rigorous conditions” around construction, he said. 

“To put it simply, if a killer whale gets too close to the site, work must stop,” Carney said of the proposed Roberts Bank expansion.

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The terminal is located near the mouth of the Fraser River in Delta, B.C., and Carney said there will be funding for Indigenous-led stewardship and restoration in the Lower Fraser River Estuary.

Another $90 million will be used to boost front-line fisheries enforcement and equip fisheries officers with modernized tools, including drones, Carney said.

The new funding also includes $186 million for the Northern Shelf Bioregion Reconciliation Framework Agreement — to advance what Carney’s office described as collaborative governance, conservation, waterway management, emergency preparedness and cumulative effects work in the Great Bear Sea region.

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Coastal First Nations welcomed the funding, with the group’s president, Samuel Schooner, saying it marked a step toward advancing collaborative efforts to prepare for the expected surge in vessel traffic that would stem from major projects.

“This brings increased risks of accidents as well as impacts on sensitive coastal ecosystems,” Schooner said in a statement. “Our communities have consistently advocated for investments in safe and responsible shipping to keep pace with increased economic development.”

The Wilderness Committee, meanwhile, said $1.2 billion for oceans protection was “pennies” compared with Ottawa’s $10-billion contribution to the proposed Roberts Bank expansion.

The advocacy group says the federal government’s newly proposed Bill C-39, aimed at strengthening the economy, undermines protections for species at risk.