Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney says that the Port of Montreal's planned expansion is one of the top priorities for the country's new Major Projects Office (MPO).

According to CBC, Carney is looking to have the port's expansion help diversify commerce and open new markets for Canadian businesses. The project would increase the Port of Montreal's container handling capacity by an estimated 60%, and create space for 1.15 million containers. It would also include the construction of a new terminal just over 22 miles away in Contrecœur, Quebec, which would have an additional railway yard, two berths and a truck gate linked to the road network.

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Given that the project has been in the planning stages for more than 10 years, Carney hopes that the MPO will speed things along fast enough to have the new terminal open by 2030. The MPO was a product of Carney's One Canadian Economy Act that was passed over the summer, as a means to facilitate "nation-building projects." The MPO also has the authority to label the port expansion as a project of national interest, which would make it eligible for exemptions to certain environmental regulations, and potentially help get it the approval it needs to develop land that sits on the habitat of two endangered species that are protected by Canada's Species at Risk Act.