The Gordie Howe International Bridge is 'essentially complete.' The fight over it is not

The Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit has been "essentially complete" since February, but a major lawsuit challenging Canada's decision to build it may not reach trial until 2027 or 2028, according to a newly obtained federal briefing note.

The information was contained in the heavily redacted briefing note prepared for federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson by deputy minister Paul Halucha.

The note is dated Feb. 17, 2026, and was obtained by CBC News through an an access-to-information request.

"Construction of the GHIB is essentially complete. Remaining work includes [redacted] commissioning and testing of critical systems [redacted]. Opening could occur [redacted] pending final certifications and co-ordinated Canadian and U.S. agency readiness," the document said.

The briefing note was prepared a week after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly threatened to stop the opening of the bridge, saying Canada would not be permitted to proceed "unless America gets a piece of it, too" — even though the bridge was built and financed by Canada.

The internal document also says the bridge has faced 22 legal challenges from the private owners of the rival Ambassador Bridge over the last two decades. Canada has won 19 and only three remain, including the principal case that an Ontario judge ruled will go to trial in late 2027 or early 2028.

In that case, the Canadian Transit Company, operated by the owners of the Ambassador Bridge, claims that when Parliament created the company in 1921, it carried an implied right to be protected from a competing crossing.

By building the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the lawsuit argues, Canada infringed on that right.

CBC News contacted Torys LLP, the law firm representing the Canada Transit Company in the case. Calls and emails were not returned.

The other two active legal challenges include a NAFTA arbitration claim and an Ontario court case in which the federal government is challenging claims by the owners of the Ambassador Bridge over century-old franchise rights tied to operating the crossing and constructing a new span.

Infrastructure Canada, the ministry responsible for the Gordie Howe International Bridge, would not answer questions about the current legal challenges against the bridge.

The document reveals the effort required to build a competing public crossing in a corridor long dominated by the privately owned Ambassador Bridge.

Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., said the Gordie Howe International Bridge illustrates the economic and political complexity of building major cross-border infrastructure.

"I think it tells us that, even in the best of times, it's incredibly challenging," she told CBC News in an interview. "And then, in the worst of times, which I sort of would say we're in now between Canada and the U.S., it gets kind of ugly."

Trautman called Trump's intervention "pretty bizarre," noting the bridge was essentially finished and all major approvals had already been secured.

She said the bridge was built not only to improve trade flows, but also to provide extra capacity in a corridor long dominated by a single privately owned crossing.

"The border processing and the technology that they have put in place, especially on the U.S. Customs Plaza, should really facilitate the flow of trucks and hopefully avoid some of the congestion that happens right now," Trautman said.

The Ambassador Bridge handled more than $140 billion in merchandise trade in 2021, according to Transport Canada — that's $390 million a day, a quarter of Canada's exports by road and more than the total annual trade the U.S. has with countries such as Colombia or Chile.

The briefing note suggests the economic battle over the crossing is already underway. Tolls on the new crossing are set to be $8.75 US per axle, compared to $20 US per axle at the Ambassador Bridge.

"The opening of the GHIB is expected to materially affect traffic patterns in the Windsor-Detroit corridor, with a share of commercial and passenger traffic anticipated to shift to GHIB, given its direct highway-to-highway connections and modern border infrastructure," the document said.

"The opening can't come soon enough for our membership," Stephen Lakowski, the president of the Ontario Trucking Association and Canadian Trucking Alliance, told CBC News.

He said tolls at the Ambassador Bridge have become so high that many Canadian fleets are using the Blue Water Bridge, which requires trucks headed to Detroit to take a 108-kilometre detour from Port Huron, Mich., via Interstate 97.

In fact, so many of his members have been using the Sarnia-Port Huron crossing that the Ambassador Bridge is no longer the busiest commercial crossing on the Canada-U.S. border, as CBC News reported first in April.

The Ontario Trucking Association announced this month that the Gordie Howe International Bridge would save its members anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 per fleet per month due to lower tolls.

Lakowski said the Gordie Howe International Bridge would not only be cheaper, but it would also make more logistical sense than the century-old Ambassador Bridge for many carriers who move freight between pick and dropoff points in Ontario and Michigan.

"You have a modern piece of infrastructure with a direct connection to the Michigan highway system," he said. "It's win for the Canadian supply chain.

"The longer it's delayed, the more it's costing us and the supply chain."

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is two years behind its original opening date. At cost of $6.4 billion, it is about $500 million over budget.

The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA), the Canadian Crown corporation created by the federal government to oversee the new bridge, has said the crossing would open in the spring.

Infrastructure Canada, the ministry responsible for the WDBA, would not comment on the legal challenges or specify when the bridge would open.

"The project team is progressing well towards a spring opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will be a vital economic link between the two countries," Caleb Spassov, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Canada, wrote in an email.

"Updates will be provided as additional information is available."