EDMONTON, Alberta — The Port of Montreal’s Contrecœur container terminal project — subject of a new agreement announced this week by the port — is among the first five projects that will be examined by the Canadian government’s new Major Projects Office, which aims to fast-track the regulatory process for significant construction.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the projects to be considered on Thursday (Sept. 11, 2025) in Edmonton. The Alto high-speed rail project connecting Toronto and Quebec City and further development of the port of Churchill, Manitoba — including improvements to the rail line serving Canada’s only deep-water port with Arctic Ocean access — are among a second group of projects that still require more development but could eventually receive similar consideration.
“At this moment of transformative change, Canada’s new government is focused on delivering major projects to connect our communities, empower Canadian workers, and build Canada’s strength,” Carney said in a press release. “With the first in a series of new projects, we will build big, build now, and build Canada strong.”
The Port of Montreal announced this week that it had reached agreement with the Canadian arm of Dubai’s DP World to develop a new container facility, featuring on-dock rail, at the Contrecœur site about 25 miles from Montreal [see “New container terminal …,” Trains.com, Sept. 8, 2025]. In including that project on the MPO list, the Canadian government says it will increase the port’s capacity by approximately 60% and generate approximately Ca$140 million annually in local and regional economic benefits.
Other projects to be examined are a new liquefied natural gas facility and a copper mine in British Columbia, a nuclear reactor project in Ontario; and a copper and zinc mine in Saskatchewan. The full list, with more details on each project, is available here.
The Alto and Churchill projects are among six that the government says “could be truly transformative for this country,” but are at earlier stages of development. The government notes the high-speed rail line could connect almost half of Canada’s population, create about 51,000 jobs during construction, and generate up to Ca$35 billion into the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. The MPO will work to cut the development period from eight to four years. The Churchill project would include an all-weather road, rail improvements, marine ice-breaking capability, and a new energy corridor with the goal of making the port a four-season facility.
