After more than eight years of promises, $300 million spent and almost nothing to show for it, there’s not a lot for the NDP government to brag about when it comes to the George Massey Tunnel project.
Which is perhaps why Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth didn’t try that hard to do so when quizzed about the issue recently during his ministry’s estimates.
Farnworth had to deploy all the ducking and dodging at his discretion for more than an hour to get out of the simple and obvious questions about why the NDP government continues to slow play the Massey project, despite promising in three elections now to solve what is the largest traffic bottleneck in the province.
“We are building the right project that is approved, was requested by the region,” said Farnworth. “It will be to the right heights, the right lane widths, the right everything.”
Maybe one day. Long in the distant future beyond 2030.
But in the meantime, there’s barely a hint of any activity around the current tunnel, which links Delta to Richmond.
“Why has it taken since 2017 to move forward and get this tunnel built when nothing’s happened?” asked Delta South MLA Ian Paton.
“I drive through there several times a week, and I don’t see an excavator, I don’t see a bulldozer, I don’t see anything happening.”
“I expect construction will start in 2026, in terms of what the member is looking for — bulldozers, diggers, those kinds of things,” replied Farnworth.
That timeline is shaky, at best. The project just for an environmental assessment certificate on May 9.
It’s in the early stages of a complex environmental review process. The work involves dropping a new eight-lane tunnel into the salmon- and sturgeon-bearing Fraser River, and then decommissioning the existing 65-year-old tunnel.
Paton quizzed Farnworth about the on fish and local farmland due to the NDP’s decision to build the tunnel rather than a 10-lane bridge. He joked, at one point, that perhaps the NDP could exempt the Massey through its environmental assessments once it passes Bill 15 and gives cabinet authority to give special treatment to special projects. Farnworth did not take the bait with a comment.
Opposition transportation critic Harman Bhangu asked Farnworth how government can be constructing the new five-land Steveston Interchange as part of this project, just north of the tunnel in Richmond, without knowing where the new tunnel tube is going to sit.
“The contractors are working closely with the design of the tunnel, to ensure that the two, in fact, fit together,” replied Farnworth
Then there’s the issue of the price.
The government has tried to insist the project will remain at the $4.15 billion budget level it set in 2021 — despite almost every other capital project on the province’s books, from hospitals to schools, going dramatically over-budget the last four years due to the escalating costs of materials and labour.
“Has that figure been revised internally since procurement began? Will the cost rise above $5 billion or $6 billion?” asked Banghu.
Previous transportation minister Rob Fleming had been adamant the budget was set in stone. Farnworth, who took over the portfolio in November, hedged his bets.
“Right now, what’s taking place is the design work in collaboration with the design builder and the ministry, refining the decision and to work towards an agreed-upon price,” he said.
Nobody believes the Massey Tunnel project will actually hold its $4.15 billion budget when (and if) construction begins in 2026, five years after the initial figures were conceived. And it’s almost impossible to believe that the massive construction project won’t blow through whatever new budget is set before (and if) it finishes in 2030.
Which is perhaps one reason the federal government doesn’t want to get dragged down into the muck by partnering with the province on the Massey.
Premier David Eby tried and failed to get funding commitments on numerous occasions from previous prime minister Justin Trudeau.
“I have been very frustrated by the fact that we haven’t seen sufficient federal support for that project,” Eby said in April, prior to the conclusion of the federal election.
Ottawa last year, but B.C. turned it down, arguing it deserved a full 50-50 cost-share arrangement with Ottawa.
“The initial discussions we had with the federal government in terms of their support for the project wouldn't even cover the interest on the cost of the project, let alone a substantial part of the capital that's required to build this out,” said Eby.
Mark Carney’s federal Liberals won the election. They picked up five new seats in British Columbia without Carney having to promise a dollar for the Massey or mention the project once.
Maybe Eby can convince Carney to come to the table. But more likely, the long-delayed, faux-budgeted, roiling quagmire that is the Massey project will continue to be solely the BC NDP’s problem.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK 蜜桃视频app and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
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