Premier-designate Kevin Doerkson has asked the outgoing New Democrat government in British Columbia not to make any new commitments on the Massey tunnel replacement project while power changes hands. The request, made nearly three weeks after the B.C. Conservatives won the October 24 provincial election, covers new contracts, amendments, change orders and approvals issued during the transition period.
Doerkson said work judged necessary should continue until his incoming cabinet has had the opportunity to decide the project's direction. He had earlier told workers on the tunnel to keep going for the time being. The transfer of power is set for November 20, when the new cabinet is to be sworn in, and the request is aimed at ensuring that the incoming government is not bound by decisions made in its final days in office.
The dispute centres on a project that has been a major political issue in the Lower Mainland for years. The planned replacement is a tunnel under the Fraser River at Delta, with an estimated cost of $8.5 billion. The previous NDP government ordered the project to start in July 2025, and construction began the following January. Ottawa has committed up to $3 billion toward it, and the federal funding is central to any change in direction.
Doerkson campaigned on replacing the planned tunnel with a 10-lane bridge instead. He has said he had "good conversations" with the federal government about using the committed funds for a bridge, and he argues that a bridge would cost billions of dollars less than the tunnel. He has not yet produced precise cost estimates for that option, so no final figures are available to compare the two projects. Any shift from the tunnel to a bridge would therefore rest on figures still to be developed.
The request also echoes a previous transition problem in British Columbia. Former premier John Horgan opposed the Site C dam during the 2017 campaign. After that election, he asked BC Hydro to pause new contracts on the project, but he later reversed course and allowed Site C to proceed. That episode shows how a change of government can leave an outgoing administration's commitments to be weighed against a new premier's campaign promises.
Several questions remain open. It is not yet known whether the outgoing government will agree to halt new Massey commitments, how the cost of a bridge would compare precisely with the tunnel, or what the final direction of the project will be once cabinet completes its review. Until that review is finished, work judged necessary will continue on the tunnel.
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