Honourable members, good morning and welcome to Vancouver. It's a pleasure to have the opportunity to present to you today.
My name is Robin Silvester. I'm the president and chief executive officer of Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. I have with me Kirk Zhou, who is our manager of decision support and business analysis.
I also would like to acknowledge that we are standing today on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.
The Port of Vancouver, formerly Port Metro Vancouver, is Canada's largest and most diversified port, a dynamic gateway for domestic and international trade and tourism, and a major economic force strengthening our nation's economy.
Of the trillion dollars in trade that the chair mentioned at the outset, $200 billion of that trade in goods takes place through this gateway. We trade through this gateway with 170 economies, and the trade activity alone generates 100,000 direct supply-chain-related jobs in Canada, paying $6.1 billion in wages. Again, the supply chain activity alone is generating $9.7 billion of GDP.
That trade equates to about $1 in $5, as I've outlined, of our nation's trade in goods, and these 100,000 jobs pay wages 50% above the national average wage, good jobs that help people raise families even in an expensive region like this.
As a Canadian port authority, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority was established by the federal government pursuant to the Canada Marine Act and is accountable to the elected Minister of Transport.
The mandate of Canadian port authorities is to enable Canada's trade, ensuring efficient and safe port operations, environmental protection, and regard for the community that we're part of, while working for the benefit of all Canadians.
The Port of Vancouver offers a full range of facilities and services to the international shipping community, operating in five business sectors: automobiles, break bulk, bulk, container, and crews. Canadian grains, coal, sulphur, potash, oil, and other resources and goods from western Canada are exported through the port.
Consumer products and other goods are imported primarily from the Asia-Pacific region, destined for the whole of Canada, and indeed, in some cases, into the U.S. Midwest as well. The port authority does not decide, of course, what is traded through the port, but does ensure goods are moved safely in an environmentally sound way.
Free and open trade is crucial to the delivery of our mandate, which is to enable trade and to provide value for the nation and for the communities we operate in.
Historically from the port's perspective, free trade agreements have increased imports and exports and benefited key sectors of our economy. For example, Canada's four TPP partners in the Americas region—the U.S., Mexico, Chile, and Peru—make up 38% of Canadian trade tonnage with TPP members through this port.
All these nations already have free trade agreements with Canada. Our most recent agreement with Peru may well be an explanation for the sharp growth in bilateral trade between Peru and Canada since 2013, which has been principally a result of increased wheat exports. The remaining six TPP partners in the Asia-Oceania region, by contrast, have no trade agreements with Canada.
As a group, TPP members account for a 28% to 30% share of Port of Vancouver Canadian market volume over the past two years, looking at both imports and exports. In 2015 this equated to around 27.4 million tonnes of cargo and approximately $21 billion of trade. Japan, the port's second-largest trading partner by volume, is the leading TPP member from a sea trade perspective, outlining the previous speaker's reference as well to the importance from a Canadian perspective of Japan as a member of TPP.
Several of Canada's competitors in key markets such as Japan are also TPP members but also possess a significant advantage through existing trade agreements. We need to ensure we do not lose further competitive advantage should the deal be ratified by other competitors but not by Canada.
In conclusion, for our part we would advocate that the federal government ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in order to provide further support and increase and diversify export opportunities for key sectors of the economy by opening up those opportunities and remaining competitive. Trade agreements have had a positive impact on cargo through the port, and we would expect that to continue.
On behalf of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, I want to emphasize our commitment to facilitate Canada's trade in a manner that is sustainable and considers communities. I very much appreciate the time to present to you today.
Thank you.