BURSTBC Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson says the money saved by building a bridge to replace the aging George Massey Tunnel would pay for construction of a new hospital for women and children south of the Fraser.
At a press conference in Port Moody Friday morning (Oct. 16), Doerkson expanded on the previous day’s press release wherein the party committed to scrapping the planned eight-lane replacement tunnel in favour of a 10-lane “George Massey Bridge,” completing the Surrey Hospital in Cloverdale (which is already underway and set to open in early 2030), and building a new women and children’s hospital in Surrey.
Thursday’s press release claimed a bridge would cut current commute times by up to 30 minutes and help businesses move goods more efficiently, but did not provide any specifics for how much the new bridge would cost, or when it might be complete.
In August of 2021, the BC NDP government announced the Fraser River Tunnel Project, a new toll-free eight-lane immersed-tube tunnel featuring one dedicated transit lane in each direction and a separate multi-use path to support walking, biking and other active transportation options.
The crossing, to be located immediately upstream of the 65-year-old George Massey Tunnel, came with a $4.15-billion price tag (updated in July 2026 to $8.5 billion) and an estimated completion date in late 2030 (changed this year to September 2031).
Doerkson said Friday building a new bridge would cost $6 billion and take five years to build, adding it would be “more affordable” and could be “completed more quickly.” The $2.5 billion saved over the cost of a new tunnel would be used to fund construction of the new women and children’s hospital.
The Reporter asked Doerkson at Friday’s press conference how he came to his budget and timeline estimates, but did not receive a response that answered the question. After several emails to the party’s director of media relations, Alex Shiff, on both Thursday and Friday, Shiff replied Friday afternoon that those figures came after “speaking to experts in the construction industry and those involved with original proposal.”
The Conservative leader said Friday it was time to “cut bait” on the tunnel plan, which is still awaiting environmental approval (expected later this year), calling the project a “pipe dream” that is “not happening at this point,” and alleging it “might not ever get built.”
“At this point, I mean, how long do we wait? How long do we wait to see if we can get an environmental permit? How much more, how many more billions of dollars do we pour into this project that is completely off the rails?” Doerkson said.
“I am committed to doing this. We have obviously enlisted the help of professionals in British Columbia to help us with this. I am certainly not the bridge builder, but when we’ve talked to very, very smart people in this industry, they’ve said it’s the right thing to do. And I will tell you this: we’ve talked to a lot of residents, and they say, ‘Get this done. We cannot sit in traffic any longer.’”
Doerkson repeatedly referenced decade-plus-old plans by the BC Liberal-led government of the day to build a 10-lane bridge between Richmond and Delta that were scrapped in 2017 by the incoming BC NDP. That project came with an estimated cost of $3.5 billion (which, adjusted for inflation, is around $4.5 billion today) and a completion date in 2022.
“This should have been a bridge, it should have been completed about three or four years ago, and it should have cost a third of what we’re now looking at,” Doerkson said.
“As I said, the bridge was the best idea. The NDP changed course on that for whatever bizarre reason. That bridge would have been completed years ago. We have an opportunity to certainly change course on this, build the bridge in five years.”
It’s not clear if, when Doerkson said a bridge could be “completed more quickly,” he meant it would be completed earlier than the already-underway tunnel project. Five years from election night would be late October 2031 — about the same time the new tunnel is supposed to be complete.
It’s also not clear whether his intention is to dust-off the previously-scrapped, decade-old bridge design or, as his critics suggest, “start from scratch.”
The Reporter asked the party for clarification on both points. Shiff said the five-year construction timeline would begin “as soon as possible” and be “an immediate priority.” Shiff also said the Conservatives’ commitment is to build a 10-lane bridge based on the previously developed project, not start from scratch.
Speaking with media Thursday, BC NDP Leader David Eby criticized Doerkson’s bridge promise as “lunacy,” saying the Conservative leader has “no plan” and alleging scrapping the new tunnel would add years to the project timeline.
“Right now, as I stand here, there are 200 workers on the site of the [Massey] tunnel beginning construction. When you drive past, you can see the big metal structures going up. That’s the tunnel construction that’s underway,” Eby said.
Work to date includes the clearing of trees, relocation of utilities, and construction of multiple pieces of project-supporting temporary infrastructure. Much of this work has been on Deas Island, where a casting basin for tunnel sections is being built.
Infrastructure improvements up and down Highway 99 have also been completed, and major work on the new tunnel is set to begin in 2027.
“[Doerkson]’s going to cancel that, send all those workers home. Start from scratch with a new plan, new environmental assessment, new procurement, new contractors. I don’t know, years? Two years, more years that the drivers are stranded? This plan is lunacy.”
Speaking with reporters at the Deas Island worksite on Friday, Eby said a $3-billion federal investment in the new tunnel, secured as part of deal between the province and Ottawa signed July 2, would be “vaporized” if the Conservatives went ahead with the bridge.
He said Doerkson has offered “no explanation of where they would get that money from,” suggesting a Conservative government would return to the BC Liberals’ plan to toll the new bridge.
“I just try to imagine the thinking, that you stop all of this, tear everything out, start again, and then pretend to British Columbians that it’s going to cost less and be delivered on the same time[line],” Eby said Friday.
“The idea that we would abandon this project at this stage is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. We are building the tunnel people need to get to work, need to get home, we are building it right, we’re supporting the British Columbians who are building this, they’re supporting their families at home, and I would challenge the Conservative leader to show up at this site, look these workers in the eye, and say, ‘I’m firing you, I’m sending you home.'”
Eby’s concerns were echoed by two trade unions, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115 and LiUNA Local 1611, who also raised concerns the move would mean “wasting” $581 million that has already been spent on the project.
Doerkson Friday brushed off both Eby’s and the unions’ concerns — “of course they’re critical” — saying a Conservative government would work very closely with the federal government “to make sure that we do everything we can to retain that funding.”
Conservative director of media relations Alex Shiff, in an emailed response to the Reporter, said Eby is “the last person in British Columbia who gets to lecture anyone about setting the Massey crossing back years.”
“In 2017, the NDP cancelled a bridge that had crews on site and tens of millions of dollars already spent. Then they studied the problem for years before landing on a tunnel that still has not been built. Nine years later, commuters are sitting in the same tunnel they were stuck in the day the NDP took office, and there is not one new lane across the Fraser to show for it. Every year of delay on this crossing belongs to the NDP,” Shiff said.