Carney says Gordie Howe bridge will open this week, White House maintains Trump's opposition 'has not changed'
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that the Gordie Howe International Bridge poised to connect Ontario and Michigan will open "at the end of the week," but a statement from the White House is raising questions about whether that will actually happen.
Speaking briefly to reporters on his way into a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill, Carney said the planned opening of this multibillion-dollar bridge paid for entirely by Canadian taxpayers is "positive news."
Carney called the opening "a symbol but also a fact of co-operation between our countries."
"Great for Canadians going across the border, Americans coming across the border, and for commerce," he said.
Carney did not specify when traffic will start to roll over the bridge, which will allow for an uninterrupted flow of people and goods from Highway 401 on the Canadian side to Interstate 75 in the U.S., bypassing other congested crossings.
Later Tuesday, when asked about the bridge opening, a White House official told CBC News that the "president's position on the Gordie Howe bridge has not changed."
"The administration remains committed to securing the best possible deal for the American people," a possible reference to U.S. President Donald Trump's demands that the country immediately get a cut of the bridge tolls collected from a project it spent nothing on building.
Trump erupted on social media in February, posting a series of falsehoods about the artery and saying he wouldn't allow it to open "until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them."
The federal government paid some $6.4 billion to build the Windsor-Detroit bridge, and it was constructed by Canadian and American workers using steel from both countries, despite the president's bogus claims that there was "virtually no U.S. content."
Trump also said the federal government owns "both the Canada and the United States side," when the bridge is, in fact, publicly owned by both Canada and Michigan.
The Canada-Michigan Crossing Agreement, signed between the two jurisdictions in 2012, guarantees its joint, binational ownership despite Canada paying all upfront costs associated with construction.
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, which will be responsible for operating the bridge, is a Canadian Crown corporation. The International Authority, which is composed of an equal number of representatives from Canada and Michigan, has oversight over the bridge.
Canada is set to collect all of the toll money to recoup the costs of paying for a bridge without any U.S. financial assistance. After Canada has recovered the construction costs it shouldered alone, Michigan will be eligible to receive 50 per cent of net toll revenues.
According to Ontario government data, the project has supported 12,670 jobs in Michigan, with more than 8,800 American labourers and tradespeople doing work on U.S. components of the 2.5-kilometre bridge.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who is in Washington to meet with officials as the CUSMA trade review deadline of July 1 looms, said he's heard conflicting information about the bridge.
"Let's see if it opens or not. Hopefully it will," he said.
"If they say it's going to open … I'm just hearing two stories but that's alright."
While uncertain about the bridge, Ford said he's heard "very positive messages" about the prospect of renewing the trilateral trade deal.
"It's not going to happen tomorrow but it's headed in the right direction," he said.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc last week said "I feel better" after meeting his counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in Washington to discuss reupping CUSMA.
However, the principal sticking point remains the same: Trump's punishing Section 232 tariffs on Canadian industrial goods like steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.
Ambassador Bridge owners tried to stymie new crossingTrump's first threat to block the Gordie Howe bridge came shortly after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly met with Matthew Moroun, the owner of the neigbouring Ambassador Bridge.
The family, a major Republican political donor, has spent years fighting the construction of the competing new bridge.
After meeting with Moroun, Lutnick spoke with Trump by phone about the matter, the New York Times reported.
CBC News has also reported that the Detroit International Bridge Company, the Moroun-chaired company that owns and runs the Ambassador Bridge, retained a top Washington firm with deep ties to the Trump administration, Ballard Partners, to lobby the White House, U.S. Congress and State Department on "international bridges."
Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is a former Ballard partner.
Democrats in Congress have vowed to investigate alleged political interference in the bridge opening.
cbc.ca
