Residents of Quebec town worry Port of Montreal expansion will ruin their ‘natural treasure’ | CBC Shows

Hélène Reeves remembers growing up on a very different St. Lawrence River. 

A lifelong resident of Contrecoeur, Que., she remembers when sailors would salute as their vessels floated by. Reeves says people move here to get away from the hustle and bustle of Montreal. The small town is home to colourful ecosystems and diverse species, several of which are at risk.

“In the summer, you could go for a walk along the St. Lawrence. There’s a nice beach,” she said. “This land has not been touched for more than 100 years — until now.”

Reeves is concerned about how Contrecoeur will change with the expansion of the Port of Montreal underway on the outskirts of town.

The original port, which is 70 kilometres to the south, is designed to handle just shy of two million shipping containers per year. It’s nearing capacity and will hit its limit by 2030, says Julie Gascon, CEO of the Port of Montreal. 

“The port needs to continue to evolve. We need to be more productive, we need to be more efficient, we need to invest in our railway, but we also need to invest in our growth to meet the demand,” Gascon said.

In September, the $2.3-billion expansion received federal backing — it was announced as one of five inaugural projects for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Major Projects Office. 

Contrecoeur is the logical spot to expand, says Gascon. The site offers a 60 per cent increase in total container-handling capacity, with pre-existing rail and highway connections, and will use hydroelectric power.

Carney has said the expansion will help diversify trade and open Canada to new markets. 

Reeves, however, is concerned that the federal government is planning for an unpredictable future. She also worries about what will happen to the unique beauty of Contrecoeur.

“It’s an exceptional site, and they’re going to destroy it for what, exactly?” she said. 

“The Port of Montreal is not full. We don’t know in five years where we’re going to be. If Trump is gone, all the manufacturers might just go back exporting and importing from the States.”

Production or preservation?

An environmental impact study of the project in Contrecoeur showed there were several at-risk species in the area, including the copper redhorse fish and the western chorus frog, that would be negatively affected by the construction.

“I want to cry…. it’s destroying our environment,” Reeves said. “[Contrecoeur] should be considered a treasure, you know. It’s a natural treasure.”

Meanwhile, Gascon worries that Carney’s desire to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade could mean hitting the capacity limit at the Port of Montreal even sooner. 

“If you increase by six per cent the cargo that used to go to the U.S. that now goes to another destination, this port is full. So what are we going to do?” 

WATCH | Lifelong resident of Contrecoeur worries about impacts of industrialization:

Contrecoeur resident worries Carney government investing big in uncertain future

A lifelong resident of Contrecoeur, Que., Hélène Reeves is concerned that by backing the Port of Montreal expansion in her small town, the federal government is committing to an unpredictable future that carries a heavy environmental cost for the area.

Gascon says that if the Contrecoeur terminal doesn’t go ahead, there is a threat this business could move to the U.S. 

“The next best option, unfortunately, for the Port of Montreal is the Port of New York. So then if you do that, you lose economic sovereignty,” Gascon said.

Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor of maritime business administration at Texas A&M University, grew up in Montreal and remembers talking about the port expansion 30 years ago, when he was still in school.

He says the project is decades late. 

“The position of [the Port of] Montreal became increasingly … marginalized in terms of the big trade, because the ships were getting bigger,” he said. “That [expansion] should have taken place 20 to 30 years ago.”

New megaships can carry two to three times the number of containers as the ships that are able to reach Montreal. Due to its shallow depth, the St. Lawrence isn’t able to accommodate these bigger vessels and Rodrigue says this multi-billion-dollar expansion is now less likely to bring in new business and would instead be cannibalizing the business already in Montreal. 

Right project, wrong port?

Rodrigue suggests an alternative: a deep-water wharf in Quebec City, where the St. Lawrence is naturally deeper and accessible to the increasingly common megaships. 

The project had the backing of CN Rail and Hutchinson Ports, one of the largest port developers and operators in the world, but was blocked by the federal government in 2021 due to its significant impact on the breeding ground of the endangered striped bass.

QSL, a major North American port operator native to Quebec, has now taken up that project at a reduced scale. Building only on existing infrastructure, the expansion is in the early stages but has already seen interest from the federal government. 

WATCH | Port of Montreal looking to double operational capacity:

Port of Montreal looking to double operational capacity by expanding in Contrecoeur

One of Canada’s busiest ports, the Port of Montreal says it will hit its cargo handling capacity by 2030. The expansion underway in Contrecoeur, backed by the federal Major Projects Office, would more than double their container handling capacity, boosting their operational capacity to about three million shipping containers per year.

Gascon says a deep-water port in Quebec City would work well in tandem with Montreal, but it lacks the level of connection that keeps containers moving right off the boat and onto land transit like trucks and trains. 

“So then what do you do with your container? Where do you put them? How do you destuff them?” she said. “The issue is not whether or not you can take the ship to a port — that’s one part. The issue is then what do you do with the cargo?”

She says that shipping companies will choose the right ships for the port and that Montreal’s favourable location will keep it an international contender. 

But as major shipping lines transition their fleets to include more and more megaships, Rodrigue says Montreal’s struggle to bring in new traffic will only grow. 

With the Port of Montreal and the Carney government zeroing in on major infrastructure developments, Reeves is concerned about where that leaves Contrecoeur. 

“I want them to take care of the environment,” she said. “We cannot do business the way we used to. We’re going to kill ourselves.”