B.C. Conservative leader calls Massey Tunnel replacement a “pipe dream”

B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson is doubling down on his election promise to cancel construction of the new George Massey Tunnel, arguing a bridge would be cheaper and faster to build. The long-running political fight over replacing the ageing crossing has become a front-burner issue in the provincial election campaign and prompted a sharp rebuke from his opponent.

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby targeted Doerkson at a campaign stop in front of the active construction zone for the $8.5-billion project. Eby said he would challenge the Conservative leader to face the workers and tell them, “I’m firing you.” He called abandoning the project at this stage “the stupidest idea I have ever heard.” Eby added that scrapping the active project would “vaporize” the $3 billion the federal government had promised in funding.

Doerkson estimates a bridge could be built in five years for $6 billion. He said residents fear the tunnel will never be built and are “beyond frustrated.” He also called the current NDP plan a “pipe dream” because it has not cleared all environmental hurdles.

Replacing the Massey Tunnel has been a decades-long headache for Metro Vancouver drivers, marked by political reversals and shifting designs.