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Natural Resources Canada said Veterans Affairs Minister Jill McKnight toured Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia, on 2 October 2026, representing Energy Minister Tim Hodgson. The visit covered safety and marine and environmental protections at the facility connecting the Trans Mountain system to tanker exports. Westridge has operated for about 70 years and was modernized with the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, completed in 2024.
The expanded terminal has three new vessel-loading berths and can receive 34 vessels a month, compared with about five before the expansion, according to the federal release. An 85-person team operates the Burnaby and Westridge terminals around the clock. McKnight received briefings on emergency response, marine-mammal mitigation, habitat measures and Indigenous consultation; archaeological work identified 80,000 artifacts.
The release links the visit to Pacific Link pipeline plans, but Westridge is an existing operating facility. The report describes present capacity and safeguards; it announces no new terminal construction decision or measured environmental outcome. It also says the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation grew from about 60 to nearly 200 people to support response readiness.