Prime Minister Carney announces $1.2 billion ocean protection plan in North Vancouver

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a $1.2 billion ocean protection investment Tuesday at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, signalling the federal government's commitment to marine conservation as shipping traffic through the region intensifies.

The announcement comes as the government moves forward with a $10 billion investment to transform Canadian shipping infrastructure, including expansion of the Port of Vancouver. Carney framed ocean protection as inseparable from economic ambition. "Ocean conservation must go hand-in-hand with our ambitious agenda to build Canada strong," he said.

The $1.2 billion package is divided into three streams. Over four years, Ottawa will invest more than $740 million toward ocean conservation, including advancing marine science, expanding the Canadian Coast Guard's capacity to monitor marine traffic, and stretching radio coverage. Another $136 million targets whale protection — funding a national marine mammal oil spill response plan and long-term capacity to monitor underwater noise across Canada's oceans.

Carney emphasized the soundscape threat to whales. "Whales in Canada's coastal waters live by sound. It's how they find food, their family," he said. "That means a loud ship can be disorienting, deafening and dangerous."

The third pillar is a $186 million investment over five years in the Northern Shelf Bioregion Reconciliation Framework Agreement — a collaboration between the federal government, B.C., and 18 First Nations. The agreement will strengthen collaborative governance, conservation, and emergency preparedness across the region stretching from the top of Vancouver Island to the Alaskan border.

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) chairperson Sxwíxwtn (Wilson Williams) called the agreement a turning point. "It really opens the door," he said after the announcement. "We're not just acknowledged, but we're part of the plan. Being a North Van/West Van resident all my life, it's very comforting knowing that they're looking out for our Salish Sea and protecting the life that's in there."

Carney used the occasion to highlight progress on marine protection targets. A decade ago, barely one per cent of Canada's waters were protected; today that figure stands at 17 per cent, with an aim to reach 30 per cent by 2030.

Earlier Tuesday, Carney marked another major milestone: LNG Canada's final investment decision on its Phase 2 expansion in Kitimat, a $33 billion private sector investment that will create more than 4,000 jobs and double the facility's capacity, making it the second-largest liquefied natural gas facility of its kind globally.