Learn about
BC Transportation
BC’s transportation strategy – called Building markets, growing jobs: The Pacific Gateway transportation strategy 2012-2020 – aims to expand trading opportunities with Asia and strengthen our province’s infrastructure to get goods to market. The strategy has three main goals:
- Increase major road and rail capacity, rural resource transportation capacity, bulk and container terminal capacity at BC ports and air passenger and cargo capacity to meet projected growth through 2020;
- Ensure an attractive climate for investment by supporting a reliable labour supply and marketing BC’s advantages to the world; and
- Enhance collaboration with partners and stakeholders to integrate industrial land-use planning, and engage with communities and First Nations.
The strategy targets $25 billion in new public and private-sector investment in transportation infrastructure needed to meet rising Asian demand for BC’s and Canada’s products, beyond the $22 billion previously committed. According to the Asia-Pacific Gateway Skills Table, this $25 billion in new investment will create at least 17,000 additional jobs by 2020.
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Read the strategy |
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Discussion question: How can Vancouver become a globally-recognized maritime centre of excellence by 2020? |
Transportation Career Profile
In BC, the phrase “if you’ve got it, a truck brought it” is particularly fitting. British Columbia is a big place, with widely spread communities. Yet BC’s Transportation industry does far more than connect British Columbians to each other. Trucks, trains, ships and planes – and the infrastructure that makes them run – are connecting British Columbia to the world and bringing our goods to the fastest growing markets in the world.
That’s why transportation infrastructure investments like building bridges, ports and airports are so vital to the BC Jobs Plan and to our economic future. To get BC goods to markets overseas they must first reach a port, a rail centre or an airport. To get there, the first step is usually getting them on a truck. Mark is a truck driver who sees himself as part of a larger moving machine that connects commerce and communities. He’s pretty happy about the view while he’s doing it, too.
BC’s Transportation industry literally connects all regions of the province to each other, and major projects to improve infrastructure either have taken place, or are taking place in all corners of the province. The next step is to get BC goods – your goods – to new and growing markets abroad.
