OTTAWA — A Bloc Québécois MP says Ottawa oversaw an inadequate consultation on the mitigation plans for an endangered fish species from the Port of Montreal expansion.
At the environment committee meeting today, MP Patrick Bonin grilled officials from the port and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada over news that the consultation process yielded no feedback from concerned environmental groups before the port received a special federal permit for the expansion project.
He says due to a technical error on the part of the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, interested groups were not informed the consultation process was underway.
The expansion at Contrecœur, about 45 kilometres northeast of Montreal, is expected to expand the port’s capacity to an estimated 1.5 million containers annually.
It was on the first list of projects referred by the federal government to the Major Projects Office and announced in September.
The Montreal Port Authority says it plans to plant more than three hectares of seagrass next summer for the endangered copper redhorse to mitigate the impact of the work on the endangered species.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 17, 2025.
Nick Murray, The Canadian Press
