Six months after being approached by the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) to get involved in the financial arrangement of the Contrecœur port terminal, the Trudeau government is finally getting on board. The Trudeau government is injecting up to $150 million into the expansion of facilities.

The envelope was confirmed on Tuesday by Federal Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez, accompanied in particular by the interim president and CEO of the APM Geneviève Deschamps.

Even before the first shovel in the ground, the Contrecœur project is facing significant cost overruns. The bill now stands at at least 1.4 billion, compared to between 750 and 950 million previously. In addition, the financial package has not yet been completed and we still do not know the identity of the private partner, who must, in principle, participate in the financing.

By releasing an envelope of 75 million in its budget tabled last March, the Legault government supports the project to the tune of 130 million. The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) must also offer 300 million in loans.

The Contrecœur terminal must be able to handle 1.15 million “twenty-foot equivalent” containers annually. Currently, the Port of Montreal can accommodate up to approximately 2 million metal boxes.

Alongside the financial issues, the APM is still waiting for the green light from the federal government to encroach on the essential habitat of the copper redhorse, threatened with extinction. Ottawa has protected part of the habitat of this fish on which the proposed construction site partially encroaches.

The challenge for the Port of Montreal is to obtain a permit from Fisheries and Oceans Canada under the Species at Risk Act. This provides only three exceptions for intervening in officially designated critical habitat.