By Leo Ryan. Editor
The trade infrastructure strategy component of the federal budget submitted to Parliament by the Carney government contains several items that address certain urgent wishes expressed by maritime industry stakeholders in the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes waterway.
In this connection, the budget document notes: “As part of additional resources for Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced on October 17, 2025, CBSA will work with Public Safety, Transport Canada, and Global Affairs Canada to identify additional ports for container import and export designation, particularly in the Great Lakes-St Lawrence Region, like Québec City and Hamilton.”
QSL, which has terminal operations in Canada and the United States, first announced plans in June 2024 to redesign its port activities in the Port of Quebec’s Beauport sector to introduce greater focus on container handling – but proceeding with the project has been hampered to a large extent by the lack of CBSA marine container facilities.
At present, such facilities are only available in five ports: Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver, Prince Rupert, and Saint John.
Canada’s biggest Great Lakes port, Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA), has also been pushing hard for broadened CBSA customs support along with such other ports as Windsor and Valleyfield.
A host of the region’s marine industry associations have recently escalated their concerns in messages addressed to the federal government – notably the Chamber of Marine Commerce, the Shipping Federation of Canada, the St. Lawrence Shipoperators, the Ontario Marine Council and the St. Lawrence Economic Development Council (SODES).
The budget document stresses: “As Canada deepens its trade relationships with reliable partners, we will need to build the infrastructure that will advance our goal of doubling non-US exports over a decade, generating $300 billion more in trade.
“To that end, Budget 2025 includes a suite of new supports for trade and transportation infrastructure projects. These new initiatives will be supported by the Canada Infrastructure Bank in assessing government projects and determining the appropriate mix of supports.”
“Budget 2025 proposes to provide $5.0 billion over seven years, starting in 2025-26, to Transport Canada to create the Trade Diversification Corridors Fund. By investing in the infrastructure that moves our products to global markets, this fund will strengthen supply chains, unlock new export opportunities, and build a more resilient, diversified economy.
“The Fund will support projects of all scales, including digital infrastructure, to improve the ability of our imports and exports to travel efficiently across the country and to and from the rest of the world. For example, the government will consider investments in key projects in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region, at ports in northeastern Quebec like enhancing the Port of Saguenay’s capacity to build a second wharf , rail lines in Alberta, port and rail infrastructure on the West Coast, and more.”
Earlier this fall, the federal government indicated that the Port of Montreal’s Contrecœur Container Terminal Project was one of the first major projects being referred to the newly-created Major Projects Office.
(Artist rendering image of QSL container project and photo of Budget 2025 document cover showing Fednav icebreaking bulk carrier)