Shipping containers in the Port of Montreal. The Montreal Port Authority is working to finalize a commercial agreement for a new container port terminal in nearby Contrecoeur.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
The Montreal Port Authority has named a manager who left the organization barely two months ago as its new chief executive officer, the latest twist in its continuing leadership struggles as it tees off on its biggest expansion project in decades.
Paul Bird is the new president and CEO effective June 8, the federal agency said in a news release Friday. The executive is well-known to Port Authority stakeholders and previously served as its chief commercial officer until leaving for another job at high-speed rail developer Alto in mid-March.
“We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Bird back,” said Nathalie Pilon, chair of the board of the Port Authority, which oversees Canada’s second-largest port. “Building on significant achievements during his six years at the Port of Montreal, he is fully committed to contributing actively to the commissioning of the Contrecoeur terminal and to the continued development of new markets.”
The port is going through a leadership shakeup, both on the board level and in its C-suite. The most alarming development was the sudden and still-unexplained exit of former CEO Julie Gascon, announced in a brief news release late on Good Friday last month.
Ms. Pilon has since insisted that there was no wrongdoing on the part of Ms. Gascon. But she hasn’t provided any further clarity on the circumstances of her departure. Another senior executive, finance chief Alban Fournier, also left in April to take a job at 5N Plus Inc., a maker of semiconductors and performance materials.
The board is also undergoing a shift. Four of six current directors will reach the end of their maximum nine-year terms this summer and make way for new recruits. Ms. Pilon is among those leaving. A seventh board seat is vacant.
Port expansion near Montreal gets $1.16-billion loan in Ottawa’s first fast-tracked project
All of this is happening at a pivotal time for the organization, which has been bruised by labour strife in recent years and is now working to finalize a commercial agreement for a new container port terminal in nearby Contrecoeur, Que. Prime Minister Mark Carney recently broke ground on the site, calling it “a big, ambitious” project that will be key to boosting Canada’s non-U.S. exports.
Mr. Carney announced last month that the Canada Infrastructure Bank would provide a $1.16-billion loan to the Montreal Port Authority for the Contrecoeur project, significantly increasing the amount of its previous $300-million loan commitment. Transport Canada has also pledged $150-million and Quebec $130-million, with the balance to come from the port authority and the terminal operator.
As the first fast-tracked project to launch under Mr. Carney’s government, Contrecoeur will increase the current container-handling capacity of the port by 60 per cent. Plans call for a 675-metre-wide docking platform with berths for two ships, eight loading cranes and a container storage yard linked to a rail line.
In his previous roles as the port authority’s chief commercial officer and senior director of the Contrecoeur project, Mr. Bird helped secure environmental permits, finalize designs and engineering, and develop key partnership agreements. Before that, he spent nearly a decade overseeing infrastructure for the mining, rail and port sectors at steel maker ArcelorMittal.