Playing With OUR Money

Question---What do the Mayor of Windsor (and Chair of the Windsor Tunnel Commission) and OMERS have in common

Answer---[See Below]

Remember when the Bridge Co. first introduced their proposal for the 200 booths? What was the Mayor's reaction: "The commission feels (the bridge plan) doesn't make any sense."

Actually it made a lot of sense from the Windsor and border perspective but it shot down the Mayor's/WTC Chair's ambitious plans of being Mr. Border. Who would finance his grand vision if the Tunnel, his source of money, might lose business or go broke? Do you remember the infamous Agenda Item #5?

Better to discredit the proposal and get mad publicly at Kwame for daring to do a deal with the Bridge Co., even if it was right before an election in Detroit. If Kwame had lost, would Hendrix, the DRTP supporter, if he were elected as mayor have done a deal with the Bridge Co.? Would Eddie have received credit from Hendrix for helping him to beat Kwame? We'll never know (subject to the recount).

And why was the Mayor crying about the need for a new bridge to be built now when the 4 Customs booths eliminated the short-term problem as even he admitted? I saw a couple of news stories recently and here is what he had to say even after the backups ended

• Peterborough Examiner 03-16-2005 Delay is no longer an option on a costly new bridge to break chronic congestion at Canada's busiest border crossing, says Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis, who lobbied U.S. officials on the massive project yesterday.
  
  "We need to invest today, we can't wait," said Francis. "Unless we start investing for the long term, manufacturing comes to a screaming halt and companies no longer locate in Canada. These are jobs across the country.
  
  "It should have started a long time ago..."
  
  "We're barely hanging on," said Francis, "and that's not good enough for industry."
  
  The Guelph Mercury Daily Mercury (Guelph, Ont.) 04-23-2005 "On Thursday, Ottawa and Queen's Park announced a $129-million scheme to improve the roads leading to the Ambassador Bridge and other points that connect Windsor to Detroit.
  
  But as Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis rightly pointed out, the governments should be providing money for a new international bridge as well as road, rail and tunnel construction."

Anyway, I have said all of this before. The attachment shown above that was presented to Detroit Council troubles me greatly. Instead of dealing with Windsor's problems, especially the Budget, the Mayor wants to own and operate a Tunnel now. Did he forget what Mayor Daley of Chicago said "running a toll road is not a core function of city government." I don't remember seeing anything in Eddie's platform about being a Border proponent either.

Mayor/Chair Francis wants us to bear all of the financial risks in owning and operating the Tunnel and he wants a new Bridge too. Aren't we lucky he did not consummate a deal yet? Imagine if the Tunnel had to compete with its limited number of booths and small plaza against the Bridge Co.'s 200 booths and new huge plaza. Imagine a new crossing taking away business when traffic is greatly reduced at the existing crossings. How could they all make money?

I do not know about you but I do not have a great feeling of comfort when the City does big deals...Remember the City and the Tunnel Commission when Eddie was there did a deal with the Mady Parking Garage and the result was a garage in receivership and a $3 million loss. Didn't OMERS write-down hundreds of millions of dollars in assets? I am glad the Star today picked up my BLOG about the City's subleasing of Canderel!

This is starting to scare me!

Answer---You fill in the blank!