Amalgamation of the Lower Mainland’s three port authorities is being blamed for a perception that Port Metro Vancouver’s residential water-lot users and small and medium-sized business owners are in danger of losing their voice in the mega-port’s affairs and governance.
Mike Owen, a member of the general commercial user group, is leading the charge to get organized. The group arose after the 1999 introduction of the Canada Marine Act (CMA), which called for committees outside of port authorities to nominate candidates for port authority boards.
Owen, who is also president of Mike’s Marine Service Ltd., is seeking to unite all the general commercial users in the amalgamated port authority under a single banner. He had represented such interests to the former Fraser River Port Authority (FRPA) for nine years. He is a current member of the new nomination committee.
“The general commercial users need to be well organized to engage the port authority, communicate their concerns and provide nominees for consideration to the board,” said Owen in a release. “The large commercial users, like terminal and rail, clearly have a voice. The general commercial users are the most populous, yet lack effective organization, and that’s hurting us.”
Owen said in an interview that he previously helped general commercial users in the FRPA navigate basic issues and rules. Besides nominating directors, the organization provided a liaison between the port authority and users, but since the ports’ amalgamation Owen said he has no mandate from such users outside the former FRPA and doesn’t know who he represents or what, if any, issues they might have.
“It’s not an adversarial role against the port,” he said of the call to better organize the general commercial user group throughout the port. “It’s a facilitation role that we play.”
He said the unique concerns residential water-lot users and small and medium-sized businesses have might be slipping through the cracks.
Port Metro Vancouver is still required to have a nominating committee to select outside board members, according to Tom Corsie, the port’s vice-president of real estate, but instead of three such committees there’s now one.
Corsie confirmed that Owen is on that committee.
Committees established prior to amalgamation were often subdivided to represent different interests in each port authority and each subgroup pursued certain lobbying activities on behalf of its respective members, according to Corsie.
He added that the significantly larger Port Metro Vancouver is much more focused on developing the overall Pacific Gateway than previous authorities. And while board members of the amalgamated port have been “phenomenal” with helping it achieve that objective, Corsie said they might not be as “in tune” with smaller localized issues.
“It is not as though small or medium-sized businesses along the Fraser are not important to us,” Corsie said. “As an organization, we definitely take their situations into concern.”
He pointed to the port’s funding contribution model for local communities for dredging waterways outside domestic and international shipping channels.
“That would not have been available had the ports not merged.”
It has also established and funded various community working groups like the Deltaport third berth community liaison committee.
“You’ve got to balance what’s happened,” Corsie said. “We’ve been able to, as a larger port, create a better sustainable growth model and deliver generational change and infrastructure development that can deliver the full potential of the Pacific Gateway. … The larger thing that’s happening is the greater benefit to the gateway, but maybe a consequence of that is less focus on those general commercial users.”
All of the port’s tenants are important to it, he stressed, adding that the port is trying to ensure it has appropriate staffing and resources available to work with all tenants.
Corsie said that if a new organization were to represent general commercial users, the port might start communicating with it instead of individual tenants about issues.
“That would be the only difference for us.”
Corsie said the “unprecedented” levels of public and private investment in the port are of benefit for all stakeholders, including general commercial users.
For Owen, it comes down to unifying disparate users throughout the port authority.
“Now that there’s a new merged port, if we want to be heard, have a say in port governance or even be kept informed about what’s going on in the port that might affect our businesses or residences, it’s incumbent upon us to get organized. We can’t sit back and just hope someone will do it for us.”