Port of Montreal expansion: preparatory work about to begin

The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) confirmed Wednesday its intention to begin preparatory work this fall for its Contrecœur expansion plan. This project requires authorization from Fisheries and Oceans Canada because it would be built in the habitat of an endangered species.

The port expansion is included in the list of projects identified by the Major Projects Office, a list presented in Edmonton by Prime Minister Mark Carney a few weeks ago.

The preparatory work, which is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks, includes “the installation of fences and access roads, the construction of work platforms, selective tree cutting, and the development of offices.”

According to the schedule provided at a MPA press conference Wednesday morning, this work will continue until 2026.

“We have all the required authorizations to proceed with what we call preparatory work, with the exception of the installation of a diversion fence, which requires authorization under the Species at Risk Act,” said Julien Beaudry, Chief of Staff and Vice-President of Communications at the Port of Montreal.

The installation of the fence is a measure aimed at mitigating the impact of the work on the habitat of the northern chorus frog.

Pending a response from Fisheries and Oceans Canada

The MPA hopes to use the Contrecœur site to increase its container handling capacity. It is estimated that up to 1.5 million containers per year could pass through this future terminal.

Two berths, a container handling area, an intermodal rail yard, a truck docking gate, and support facilities are to be built.

This expansion work also involves dredging the bottom of the St. Lawrence River in the range of the endangered copper redhorse.

The copper redhorse is found nowhere else on the planet except in a small stretch of the St. Lawrence River and a few tributaries, such as the Richelieu River, where it breeds.

In 2021, the then federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, gave his support to the port expansion project, but imposed a series of conditions and the implementation of an impact compensation plan aimed at creating new habitats for the endangered species.

“We’re going to plant seagrass beds. So the copper redhorse habitat will be larger after this project is completed than it is today. And I emphasize, this is a significant investment of several million dollars,” and “our intention is to carry out the planting before carrying out the planned dredging activities. In other words, we will build before intervening” in the fish habitat, said Beaudry.

This compensation plan, which relies in particular on the planting of food beds for the copper redhorse near Île aux Bœufs, must obtain approval from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the MPA believes the department could issue its authorization as early as Nov. 28.

According to the schedule presented Wednesday, dredging of the river in the copper redhorse habitat will begin in the fall of 2027, and the port expansion will be completed by 2030.

The MPA must also implement compensation plans for the loss of 18.5 hectares of wetlands, the loss of habitats for various fish, the bank swallow, waterfowl, and a species of bat.

Port authorities indicated in a document released to the media Wednesday that four of these seven compensation plans have already been implemented.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews