The honeymoon’s over for Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal majority government. Controversy over Canada’s response to the terrorist attacks in Paris and ongoing global economic turmoil have seen to that.
On the home front, uncertainty over the Liberals’ commitment to trade fundamentals remains. Thus far, pronouncements on what can’t be done are outdistancing those on what can. For example, the new prime minister has already directed his federal transport minister to formalize a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic along B.C.’s north coast, driving what could be the final stake through the heart of Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway pipeline. The move will also eliminate another option for allowing landlocked Canadian energy to reap the benefits of global market pricing.
Out in Delta, Liberal MP Carla Qualtrough is opposed to Port Metro Vancouver’s (PMV) proposed Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (T2). There’s no strong business case for Deltaport’s expanded container-handling project, Qualtrough maintained in the 2015 federal election campaign.
However, the business case for PMV’s container traffic expansion is significant. The fiercely competitive container shipping sector is fundamental to the world’s economy.
Drewry, a U.K.-based shipping consultancy, has projected that a slowdown in global trade coupled with overcapacity in the new mega-container ship fleet will result in another three years of “financial pain” for major carriers. However, it has also noted that while container traffic continues to migrate to East Coast North American ports from their West Coast counterparts following the 2014-15 labour troubles at U.S. West Coast ports, PMV and Prince Rupert have increased their container business. To continue that growth, their infrastructure needs to expand. That’s T2’s long-term business case, because a low Canadian dollar can do only so much to lure international carriers north. Meanwhile, the long-term business case for what Trudeau has acknowledged is a trading nation calls for more avenues to market, not fewer.
