Question Period Note: Tilbury – Marine Jetty Project

• My Department is actively participating in the Province of British Columbia’s environmental assessment for the Tilbury Marine Jetty Project.
• We will assess new information requested from the proponent about project impacts and proposed mitigation measures, as it relates to my Department’s mandate.
• My Department will continue to undertake meaningful consultation with the Province as well as continue our work to ensure that fish, marine mammals, and their habitats are protected.

SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALE
• Our Government is committed to the protection of Canada’s resident killer whales and to the recovery of these populations.
• We will continue to work in partnership with Indigenous peoples, key stakeholders, international partners and the Province of British Columbia on immediate actions to reduce the impact of marine shipping and assist in the recovery of the Southern Resident Killer Whale.
• Our Government has advanced initiatives to address the three key threats to the Southern Resident Killer Whale through the $1.5-billion Oceans Protection Plan, the $167.4-million Whales Initiative, as well as $61.5 million in additional measures specific to the Southern Resident Killer Whale.

• The British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) is currently consulting with Indigenous groups, drafting its assessment report, and developing potential conditions. BCEAO is likely to share its draft environmental assessment report in the coming weeks.
• BCEAO’s report will be submitted to the provincial ministers and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada to enable provincial and federal decision making.
• In March 2021, Fisheries and Oceans Canada provided comments on select chapters of the BCEAO Environmental Assessment Report.
• Provincial and federal environmental assessment (EA) decisions could be required in the fall of 2021.
• A Fisheries Act authorization would likely be required for dredging associated with construction and operation of the jetty. No permit under the Species at Risk Act would be required for this project, as the footprint of the marine terminal is not located within the critical habitat of the Southern Resident Killer Whale. However, shipping associated with the project will traverse the critical habitat.
• Marine shipping associated with the project is located within the same location as shipping associated with the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project.
• On August 6, 2019, the 180-day application review period for the project was suspended to allow for supplemental analysis to be conducted to consider potential project-related effects in the expanded marine shipping area. The BCEAO varied the procedural Order to include an assessment of the effects of marine shipping activities.
• On July 9, 2019, the scope of marine shipping was expanded to include an assessment of the effects of marine shipping activities from the project's marine terminal to the 12-nautical-mile limit of Canada's territorial sea.
• On March 20, 2019, the BCEAO formally accepted the application from the proponent for an EA certificate. The 180-day application review process began.
• On July 10, 2015, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency commenced an EA and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change approved the substitution of the federal EA process by that of the Government of British Columbia for this project.
• Tilbury Jetty Limited Partnership proposes the construction and operation of a new marine terminal facility located on Tilbury Island in British Columbia. As proposed, the Tilbury Marine Jetty Project includes the loading of liquefied natural gas onto carriers and barges for export to local and global markets. The facility is expected to operate for a minimum of 30 years.

None