Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday the federal government will announce new port infrastructure funding within two weeks, highlighting expansions in Montreal and Manitoba as priority projects under Ottawa’s effort to diversify trade away from the United States.
The commitment comes as Canada pursues deeper economic ties with Europe through new agreements on energy and critical minerals, requiring upgraded port capacity to ship those products overseas.
Carney specifically identified Churchill, Manitoba, as “effectively” a new port capable of shipping liquefied natural gas, building on a previously announced joint federal-provincial investment of $80 million to restore the Port of Churchill infrastructure and adjacent rail line.
“There is a lot happening, it’s the number 1 focus of this government is to build that infrastructure,” Carney said during trade talks in Germany and Latvia. “And, particularly, infrastructure that helps us deepen our partnership with our European partners.”
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew welcomed the announcement, saying it marks the beginning of a 10-year investment period for Churchill. The northern port, he said, gives Manitoba a competitive advantage in bringing western Canadian natural resources to international markets.
“It’s certainly a culmination of a lot of efforts on the part of people in Manitoba over the years to build up our port in Churchill,” Kinew said.
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The projects could be fast-tracked under Bill C-5, legislation passed in June that allows the government to quickly approve major projects deemed in the national interest. The Contrecoeur expansion of the Port of Montreal, designed to increase the port’s annual capacity by 60 percent, was also identified as a potential early candidate.
However, experts are raising questions about the projects’ commercial viability. Trade professors warn that year-round Arctic shipping through Churchill would require additional icebreakers, while Indigenous groups have raised concerns about treaty rights and community consultation.
Heather Exner-Pirot, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and managing editor of the Arctic Yearbook, questioned whether shipping companies have committed to actually using the Churchill facilities. “Someone needs to tell me when shippers of commodities have signed up to use the port facilities in Churchill, until then this is all government make work,” she wrote on social media Tuesday.
Chris Avery, president of Arctic Gateway Group, which operates Churchill’s port, said the facility “is ready to step up and play a vital role in diversifying Canada’s trade, growing our energy and critical minerals exports, and strengthening sovereignty in the North.”
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