The current agency replaced the older Toronto Harbour Commission that had a five-member board including three City of Toronto councillors. Under the "Letters Patent", no City of Toronto Councillor, Ontario Member of Parliament or Canadian Member of Parliament can be a director and no employee of the City of Toronto, Province of Ontario, or Government of Canada (or related agencies) can be a director. The 'users directors' are to be nominated by the businesses operating in the port, the airport, commercial users or recreational businesses. Like all port authorities created from harbour commissions, the aim was to update port operations so that it worked more like a business than a government agency.