With trade policy in flux and big projects on the move, Resource Works hosted a cross-sector roundtable in Vancouver last week to focus on how to get mining, agriculture, energy, and electrification projects and trade infrastructure to global markets.
The conversation aligned with the Business Council of Canada’s report Selling to our strengths, which argues Canada can reclaim agri-food superpower status by going big on commodities, inputs like potash supply and nitrogen, and resilient supply chains.
Business Council of Canada vice-president Michael Gullo told the group the window is open, but not forever.
Later on, Gullo made it clear that: “record levels of investment from the private sector are necessary” and governments must create conditions for “capital to feel welcome in Canada.” He said foreign policy should reflect economic policy, deliver more Canadian energy, agri-food, and critical minerals to allies, and ensure climate policies support firms that compete for global market share. That is what the council’s recent report and its call to pair investment attraction with trade-enabling infrastructure is all about.
Timing is everything. The Port Vancouver moved a record 158 million metric tonnes in 2024, so the Gateway is a national asset. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has now opened procurement for Roberts Bank Terminal 2, a container expansion that will add about 2.4 million TEU when it comes online in the mid-2030s, a project described as nation-building. LNG Canada shipped Canada’s first large-scale LNG cargo this summer from Kitimat, beginning a new era of Canadian energy exports.
Port authority vice-president Alexa Young said the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority was pleased to host the discussion with Canadian businesses and Gateway partners about “getting more mining, agriculture, energy and electrification projects and infrastructure up and running,” and highlighted the “outsized role” the port and its Indigenous, supply chain, and government partners can play at this moment. The port’s recent throughput and RBT2’s next phase back that up.
Market signals are urgent. Canada faces new headwinds in agri-food trade, including new Chinese tariffs on Canadian products announced in March and ongoing frictions with the United States over supply-managed sectors. Both mean we need to diversify customers, improve logistics, and speed up approvals at home.
On minerals, Ottawa extended the flow-through mineral exploration tax credit this spring, and B.C. advanced a northwest mining approach centred on partnerships with First Nations to attract tens of billions of dollars of investment. Gullo’s competitiveness theme ran throughout the session.
The Business Council’s report says Canada should pair sector strengths with faster, clearer project delivery and reliable corridors to tidewater. That means ports, rail, road, and transmission upgrades that keep pace with demand growth in agriculture and resource exports, plus consistent policy that attracts capital rather than deters it. LNG Canada’s first cargo showed how aligned policy, capital, and community partnerships can get an asset from concept to lift-off, and why that pace matters for future-ready industries.
For a decade, Resource Works has been B.C.’s go-to convener for practical, cross-table conversations on responsible development. In the last few months alone, the non-profit has hosted and co-hosted events that bring together business leaders, Indigenous partners, investors, and policymakers, including a recent investor luncheon with the Business Council of British Columbia to accelerate Indigenous-led economic projects, and ongoing planning for the Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase returning to Vancouver in November.
The group’s events calendar shows a steady rhythm of policy-grounded forums that turn big ideas into next steps.
As Young said, the Gateway can deliver for Canada when we all pull in the same direction. And as Gullo said, that will require welcoming investment, aligning economic and foreign policy, and making climate policy a competitiveness tool. With record trade through Vancouver, RBT2 moving ahead, and LNG now sailing from Kitimat, the pieces are falling into place.
The challenge and the opportunity is to keep coordination tight and approvals fast enough to turn Canada’s short window into durable prosperity.
