The Port of Montreal aims to increase local benefits from the port expansion project

Press release

Montreal, October 6, 2025 — The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) has informed the City of Contrecœur and the Municipality of Verchères of its intention to establish mutual benefit agreements with each regarding the future container terminal in Contrecœur. The MPA aims to enhance its local involvement and respond to community needs, notably through existing local initiatives.

Direct benefits for the community

While mutual benefit agreements are common in the private sector, this marks a first for the Montreal Port Authority, a federal autonomous agency. Intended for Contrecœur, where the project will be located, and Verchères, its neighbouring municipality, each agreement seeks to ensure economic, social, and environmental maximum benefits by identifying concrete actions that help both parties achieve their goals. Already involved in the community through support for about twenty organizations, the Port of Montreal is opening the door to new collaborations such as green space improvements, youth employment programs, interpretive activities or community investments.

“Our intention is clear: the development of the port in Contrecœur must have a positive impact not only on the supply chain that supports our businesses, but also on the local and regional community. These agreements represent an opportunity to work in a structured way to identify shared priorities that could span up to a decade,” said Julie Gascon, President and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority.

The Montreal Port Authority and its future operator will contribute annually through substantial fiscal payments that reflect the public nature of port activities while recognizing the importance of municipal services. Municipalities are already benefiting from the arrival of port-related businesses, creating jobs and stimulating the local economy.

Regional economic benefits

The project will directly strengthen the competitiveness of the 6,700 exporting businesses in Greater Montreal and the 3,000 manufacturers in Montérégie, one of Quebec’s most export-oriented regions. It is the presence of these businesses that led the MPA to collaborate with the MRC of Marguerite-D’Youville and its development service to maximize benefits.

“In addition to becoming a future employment hub for the region, this new terminal will primarily benefit Quebec and Canadian businesses in the manufacturing, agricultural, and service sectors seeking proximity to port facilities. Ultimately, an entire ecosystem develops around a terminal, and many businesses are preparing to take advantage of these new infrastructures,” added the President and CEO of the Port of Montreal.

It is important to note that the nature of port activities means that most jobs generated by cargo movement occur outside the terminal, creating employment among suppliers and service providers. Thus, a small number of direct jobs on-site or within the ecosystem—such as handling, trucking, administration, or maintenance—can lead to a significant number of jobs among importers and exporters.

Ongoing dialogue with the community

The Contrecœur expansion project underwent thorough review by over 20 ministries and agencies, alongside a broad public consultation process over several years. In 2021, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada issued a favourable decision with 387 implementation conditions, making it the most extensive environmental and social monitoring effort ever undertaken in Canada in anticipation of a port terminal in an existing industrial zone.

To ensure harmonious coexistence well before operations begin, the Port of Montreal has proactively established or will soon establish:

• a port-community committee.
• a liaison committee with the City of Contrecœur;
• a good neighbour table with Verchères residents living near the project site;
• various technical and follow-up committees with municipalities and the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.

Through these bodies, the MPA ensures ongoing dialogue, information sharing, and regional economic networking. These committees have been gradually implemented and complement the accountability required by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. The MPA will also continue to hold activities to foster dialogue and identify necessary adjustments.

Operated by the Montreal Port Authority (MPA), the Port of Montreal is the largest container port in Eastern Canada and a diversified transshipment centre that handles all types of goods: containerized and non-containerized cargo, liquid bulk and dry bulk. The only container port in Quebec, it is a destination port served by the largest shipping lines in the world. It is also an intermodal hub with a service offering that is unique in North America, featuring its own rail network directly dockside connected to Canada’s two national rail networks. The MPA also operates a Cruise Terminal.

The MPA factors economic, social and environmental components into its corporate initiatives. This commitment is governed by a sustainable development policy whose guiding principles focus on involvement, cooperation and accountability. Port activity in Canada supports some 590,000 jobs and generates close to $98.5 billion in economic activity.

Located in an industrial zone, the Contrecœur land reserve was acquired over 30 years ago by the Montreal Port Authority and has been the focus of thorough collaborative planning to support the development of the supply chain in Quebec and the rest of Canada. With the support of its public and private partners, including financial support from the governments of Canada and Quebec, the Port of Montreal is developing an advanced new container terminal able to handle 1.15 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) by 2030, when it is expected to be fully operational. The terminal will generate about 10,000 jobs. It will cover two berths, a large container handling area, an intermodal rail yard connected to the main network, a truck gate connected to the road network, and support facilities. Advantageously located in the country’s main pool of consumers and importers, close to major rail and road routes, the Port of Montreal’s Contrecœur expansion will strengthen a world-class logistics hub in the heart of the St. Lawrence Valley.