Exits from Interstate 75 are displayed for the Gordie Howe International Bridge and Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor with Detroit on Tuesday.Paul Sancya/The Canadian Press
The proposed agreement in principle for the Gordie Howe International Bridge confirms that Canada will share half of net toll revenues with the U.S. for the first 15 years.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week that Canada and the U.S. would share net revenues from the Gordie Howe International Bridge after operational costs for 15 years, but the two countries would only split the bridge’s toll revenue after “all of the debt is repaid.”
“It’s a good deal for both sides, it gets things moving,” said the prime minister.
Details of the deal, shared on the Gordie Howe International Bridge website, don’t mention debt repayment.
The document says Canada’s payments will be made to a United States-Canada Economic Development Fund controlled by the U.S. government.
The federal government said Tuesday that in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, Canada will not be celebrating the opening of the bridge with the United States.
Gordie Howe Bridge opening celebration with U.S. cancelled, Ottawa says
Trump threatened Monday to hit an array of Canadian products with 50 per cent tariffs in 30 days. American officials said the new levies are a response to provincial bans on U.S. alcohol, Canada’s supply-managed dairy system and quotas on American cars.
Carney said he spoke with Trump Tuesday morning and they agreed to intensify trade negotiations.
A Canada-only bridge opening event is expected to take place Friday and the bridge is still set to open Monday.
NDP MP Heather McPherson said in an e-mail that the Gordie Howe International Bridge is critical public infrastructure and Canadians “deserve to know exactly what is happening with it.”
“Mark Carney could have prevented much of this confusion if his government had simply been transparent and clear with Canadians from the beginning,” she said. “Instead, Canadians were given vague and opaque answers by their own government and, at times, had to turn to American media to get basic information about an agreement between our two countries.
Side deal to share Gordie Howe toll profits with U.S. doesn’t include provision for debt repayment
“Canadians should never be misled or left in the dark about a project this important – especially one built with our public money. The government owes Canadians straight answers, full transparency and accountability.”
The new bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan is named after legendary Canadian hockey player Gordie Howe, who led the Detroit Red Wings to four Stanley Cup victories.
The bridge has come to symbolize the fractious relationship between Canada and the United States since Trump’s return to the White House.
Its opening was delayed previously after the Trump administration sought to renegotiate the bridge deal following pushback from the billionaire Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge and is a significant Republican donor.
A ribbon-cutting event had been scheduled for June 12 to officially open the $6.4-billion bridge, but a White House source told The Canadian Press that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick intervened. In the weeks that followed, Lutnick and U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra led negotiations on the new deal.
The 15-year agreement to open the bridge is separate from the deal Ottawa signed in 2012, which saw Canada shoulder the costs of construction. The original deal, signed with former Republican Michigan governor Rick Snyder, remains in place.
The bridge’s ownership is shared between Michigan and the Government of Canada.