The B.C. government is getting up to a $3-billion boost towards the bill for the new Fraser River Tunnel, whose final costs remain unknown.

Prime Minister Mark Carney made the announcement in Vancouver, Thursday (July 2) as both governments unveiled the Canada-B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement.

The agreement will speed up permitting and financing for LNG projects, invest $500 million in the Red Chris Mine expansion and provide $3.9 billion towards costs for the new North Coast Transmission line.

“This deal will deliver faster commutes as we build critical infrastructure, less pollution as we power growth with clean electricity and the kind of shared prosperity that funds strong public services,” Premier David Eby said in a news release.

The federal money for the tunnel though raises “serious” questions about the true cost of the tunnel project, says Delta Coun. Dylan Kruger.

He said the federal government has committed to covering a third of the project costs, up to $3 billion.

“Simple math suggests a project cost of at least $9 billion. That’s more than double the province’s stated $4.15-billion budget,” Kruger said in a statement.

He repeated his call for an independent, third-party review of the Fraser River Tunnel project, saying there have been endless delays and a cancelled procurement process, while there’s still no environmental assessment certificate.

He wanted to know the full costs and completion date.

“It’s time for full transparency, and an independent third-party review into how we got here,” Kruger said

The environmental assessment certificate however is expected to be completed by year end, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit.

The original completion date is 2030.

Delta council recently backed Kruger’s call for a review of the project.

Delta South MLA Ian Paton said if the project costs $12 billion and Ottawa only gives $3 billion, “Where’s the project?”

He said it’s “laughable” to say the project will be built by 2030 while the province (in June) cancelled its contract with the consortium that designed the tunnel project.

“Now, what do we have? We don’t have anything. We’re trying to figure out, well, who’s going to be brought in from B.C. that knows anything about putting concrete tubes underneath a river.

“This whole thing is such a mess,” Paton said, adding there’s still no environmental assessment.

Delta Mayor George Harvie’s Achieving for Delta team said in a release that it looked forward to seeing detailed plans about the tunnel project, “to ensure full transparency.”

“With this new framework now established, it is imperative that we immediately identify, isolate, and systematically overcome any fiscal or logistical risks that threaten to stall or hinder progress on our region’s most vital transportation link: the Fraser River Tunnel Project (George Massey Tunnel Replacement),” said Harvie.

“The current George Massey Tunnel remains one of the most severe bottlenecks in western Canada, impacting daily commuters, industrial trade corridors, and emergency response capabilities. The replacement of this crossing is not merely a local concern; it is an infrastructure project of national economic significance that cannot afford further delay, mitigation-related stalls, or shifting timelines.”