Why The Bridge Company Has Won!

The border issue has dominated our lives in Windsor for much too long. It has caused people to sell or consider selling their home for fear of what may happen. It has paralyzed Council when they should have been thinking about the economic redevelopment of our economy.

We must take into account facts and reality, not what we may wish things to be. It is not 50 years ago. I am sorry but I cannot take responsibility for errors of judgment that may have been made in the past. I have to deal with what we have now when trying to consider a solution.

Like them or not, the fact is that someone will have to talk to the Bridge Co. and deal with them since that Company is the key player in the border game.

The bridge is there and it is not moving. They have built up a business and they are not going to let someone take it away. They are smart, well-connected, powerful and they are not afraid to litigate!

There are certain facts that we just have to accept. Once we do, the result is inevitable:

1. The Bridge Company’s new 200 booth proposal, which they are to finance on their own, and the new Bi-National Engineer's projections about reduced traffic volumes may mean we never need a new crossing. When reverse customs and Bluewater bridge expansion are introduced, the redundancy and security concerns are solved too. The only EA assessment that needs to be done is on the US side, not an international extravaganza.


2. Who can afford to finance a new crossing and to operate it profitably when the two existing crossings are having difficulties making money after auto industry changes, 9/11, SARS, job losses, Detroit Casino expansion, higher dollar etc. Does someone have a "death wish" to bankrupt the City-owned Tunnel? If the Bridge Co. 200 booth construction is completed by 2007, a new crossing would be doomed to fail
   
   
3. Do you really think George W. Bush is going to let Paul Martin expropriate the assets of an American company and how could it be done anyway? Bill C-44, the basis of Eddie’s billion-dollar dream and the bureaucrat’s desire to control the Bridge Co business in both Windsor and their proposed Buffalo area development, is being buried
   
   
4. The Bridge Co. is the only show in town respecting truck traffic and they "own" that business
   
   
5. The Windsor Star reported years ago that the Bridge Co. already owns the land where the major corridors might go for a new crossing. It is unlikely that their lands can be expropriated, especially in the US.
   
   
6. It would take billions to buy out the Bridge Co border investments at a time when the Feds need their surplus to buy voters for the next election and Ontario is becoming a "have-not" Province
   
   
7. MDOT and the US Government have sunk hundreds of millions into the Bridge Co. Ambassador Gateway project. Why would they spend hundreds of millions more on a new road infrastructure at a new crossing and be forced to staff Customs at another location.
   
   
8. Minister Peterson has recognized that there is no short-term problem since the Bridge Co. solved it with 4 new Customs booths and is increasing capacity by 50% by proposing to build 7 more. There is no budget money set aside for Windsor other than the balance of the initial BIF $300 million.
   
   
9. Premier McGuinty’s announcement that the Border Czar is to bring in a new crossing by 2013 means that he has recognized that there is no short-term problem since the Bridge Co. solved it 4 new Customs booths and is increasing capacity by 50% by proposing to build 7 more. Other than Dwight Duncan's "Gong Show" $500 million that will not be available until after 2010, if ever, there is no money for Windsor.
   
   
10. Everyone knows that it is the Americans who will ultimately decide what happens and the Bridge Co. knows everyone on that side of the border.
    
    
11. The Bridge Co. has never suggested using E. C. Row as a roadway to its crossing for trucks.
    
    
12. There are only 2 viable crossings according to the Bi-National Engineers: Ojibway and the Twinned Bridge corridors. Guess who owns property there on both sides of the border.
    

Looking then at the inevitable, our Mayor and Council should have been working on a strategy a long time ago for negotiating with the Bridge Co. Frankly, after the Senior Level shafts, we don't have anyone else to partner with. And Windsor cannot do it alone.