A Load Of Hooey

Don't you find it truly strange that our Mayor has not said one negative word about the Provincial Budget that ignored Windsor?

In fact the Windsor Star probably saved Dwight Duncan's neck and career. I hope he shows his gratitude to them.

Now I want you to read the following 2 paragraphs quoting Dwight Duncan very, very carefully to see if you get it. This was published in the Online Star that relatively few read but not published in the newspaper version. Can you tell why:

• "Our message is that our government has invested $1.4 billion in this community, including $200 million to begin all the border infrastructure projects, six laning of 401, you know we killed the DRTP, we killed the nine-point plan, we have a 40-member team working on the border here, we’ve funded three projects including a new tunnel plaza, including the pedestrian overpass, including the Walker Road overpass, the six-laning of 401, no government has done more for this community than our government,” said Duncan.
  
  To those who say we haven’t done enough on the border, we say ‘hooey’. No government has done more, and those people that say we haven’t are just providing misinformation to the community."

No I did not mean that Dwight may just have prejudiced the entire DRIC process so Mike Hurst can start a lawsuit.

Read it again, slowly this time because Dwight gave it all way, made something public that he should not have done so. A Freudian slip perhaps that was caught in time for the print edition. Do you see what is missing? Let me give you a hint:

"you know we killed the DRTP, we killed the nine-point plan...

we’ve funded three projects including a new tunnel plaza,"

What did the Liberals not fund--the road to the Ambassador Bridge with their $150 Million BIF money (and the matching Federal $150M) although that project fit the BIF criteria. Why not--because they never intended to make it easy for vehicles to go to the Ambassador Bridge at this time. They funded Eddie's Tunnel Plaza improvement project instead. This project seems to be in limbo with the cancelled public session which has not yet been rescheduled, Alinda's takeover and the fact that queuing is now permitted inside the Tunnel so backups should decrease.

Surprisingly then, what did the Liberals not kill---the Ambassador Bridge Twinned Bridge enhancement project. Why not--because that is the crossing location that the Senior Levels want for the "public" bridge and will try to get. Not as a private deal but as a "public" crossing.

They never wanted a downriver crossing. Their crossing was to be in the location of the Ambassador Bridge with the corridor being a Lauzon/E C Row connector to Highway 401. The new upgraded road will be provided instead of a tunnel since it is an expressway route already and needed for Eddie's transportation hub at the airport. The public will be relieved as Council cheerleaders brainwash us over and over again! It would be just like the decision made at the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia that the City's Dev Tyagi knows all about. Search all over the place and then construct, after all of the fuss, in the obvious location beside the existing bridge.

Remember Federal Minister, Alan Rock, reached an Agreement with Jim Flaherty [Cabinet Minsiter in Ontario then and now Finance Minister] that each would contribute "X" number of dollars. They agreed to create the possibility of a new, third crossing with the Americans. This was the Tenth Point of the Nine Point Plan.

Over the past few days I have speculated:

• Because of the Alinda deal, the City of Windsor, the Feds and Macquarie were working together along with Borealis to stop the Bridge Co.
• The money boys hope perhaps to be the P3 financing choice for the new twinned bridge and even for the road to the bridge as well
• The Transport Minister won't come to Windsor since The Government of Canada never intended to deal with the Bridge Co. and does NOT want to talk with the Bridge Co. They want to litigate. [I am sure you read the comment by TC saying I was incorrect about Brian Hicks and his "litigation" title]
• The Federal Budget is just the latest attempt at intimidation planned to get Matty Moroun to consider that his ownership of the Bridge is limited and that he had better walk away and take what is offered as a buy-out and and feel lucky

Now, with their Budget, the Province joined the party even though they had been working closely with Eddie for quite some time, primarily over the Tunnel issue. How can I say that if the Province had nothing to say about Windsor in its budget?

DUHHHH it's about 7 months before the Provincial election. The Liberals are not going to commit money, even $400M to match the Conservatives. That would mean no tunnel since the amount is a mere fraction of the money needed for a tunnel from Highway 401 to the border. That could cost votes for Sandra especially and Dwight. They would NOT talk about contributing any money since if they did, they would have to support a road location. That could cost votes for Sandra especially and Dwight. Better to be general and say nothing as Dwight did but promise the moon and the stars:

• "Duncan said the border was a highlight in the 2005 provincial budget, and more will be unveiled in the future. "I'm looking forward to the day, and it's soon, when we will have still more to say about the border in Windsor."

We'll get some goodies like the THINK BIG dream of a transportation hub at the airport which will require a new road and a new crossing----the Son of Sam. It is all part of the game being played on us. And it will work, just like rushing into an East End Arena worked at the municipal level no matter what the cost.

It has been an interesting struggle, all designed to beat the Ambassador Bridge Co. When you start going back in history, certain events jump out at you as you put them into context of what is happening today:

• The City's WALTS road became the Ring road which became the DRIC road. We are not arguing the corridor now but whether it should have a tunnel or not
• Isn't it interesting that the justification for the new border crossing from the start of the Bi-national consultant review was traffic increases but now that traffic has declined, other reasons have been put forward as the excuse
• Why were we never told of the Tenth Point of the Nine-Point Plan
• Whatever happened to the BIF $300M short-term money that was to be used to improve roads to the existing crossings, the Bridge and Detroit/Windsor Tunnel but only has been used for the Tunnel
• Why did Eddie only talk about the Tunnel and several other insignifcant matters as his "first step" and not the road to the bridge
• Why did Phase 1 not deal with the road to the bridge but did deal with the City-owned Tunnel and E C Row when the issue was truck backups on Huron Church
• Why was there never a Phase 2
• Do you remember when "The City of Windsor will probably have to resort to expropriation to complete the acquisition of properties in the Brighton Beach area which will bring the cost of assembling a much-needed parcel of industrial land to about $11 million, the city's solicitor said" in May, 2004 and now this land is to be used for a truck plaza not industrial purposes
• Was it a co-incidence that "Windsor owns 85 to 90 per cent of the land needed for a new truck route, Mayor Eddie Francis said Tuesday in predicting the Schwartz border traffic plan would require few expropriation battles... Francis said that while the administration has not done an exhaustive study of the lands required for the new truck route, he estimated less than 15 per cent of the property and adjacent right- of-way remains in private hands.
• Does it make sense now why Sam had 2 parts to his presentation of the Schwartz Report. The first part was the throw-away, short-term Horse-shoe Road that got everyone excited and then the long-term solution which it is clear that the Ontario Minister and Eddie are working on today to achieve quietly behind the scenes. Or at least to pretend to do so
• How did the Bridge Co. rank so highly in preliminary studies and then lose out through the use of a route and corridor never proposed by them

I will tell you that if I am right, then we have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and years on a DRIC study that was never needed. The justification for it in the minds of the Bureaucrats and certain politicians is that it really was money "saved." The DRIC process would have scared Matty Moroun, it would be argued, and resulted in him selling his interest in the bridge at a lower amount than the Bridge is otherwise worth.

I'll tell you what the $400M in the Federal Budget represents. It has nothing to do with a road to the new crossing.

In the first place, it was designed to call the Province's bluff. The Feds are in control since they have the cash. The Feds put up a big chunk of money and the Province backed off. The Province could not even mention the $500M Gong show money that Ontario Ministers Caplan and Duncan threw around a few years ago (Remember, it was not available until after 2010 anyway).

The three Governments have a common objective to beat the Bridge Co. but they are squabbling amongst themselves for power over this profitable crossing. Why else did Eddie go to the Senate to try and get a veto? Why else did Brian help him get changes to Bill C-3? Why else did the Province seek money from the Feds for their "Gateway" strategy. [The Globe reported that "The Ontario government has developed a North America Gateway strategy to widen parts of Highway 401 and ease traffic jams at the Windsor-Detroit crossing, projects that Ottawa is being asked to help fund to protect international trade."] The Feds had enough and asserted control!

More importantly, the $400M was really a "reserve" set aside as insurance companies do with claims that will have to be paid as the low-ball amount of money set aside for the day when negotiations between the Federal Government and the Bridge Co. begin. Remember that Forbes said the bridge was worth US $500M or more.

All levels of Government are egging the Bridge Co. to sue so that settlement negotiations can start down the road, say after Discoveries in a few years as legal costs mount and litigation frustration and fatigue set in. By that time, the Governments hope to have worn down the Bridge Co. with fights over Bill C-3, interim control by-laws, EA appeals and who knows what else.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it plays itself out. At least you, dear reader, understand the stakes now and how we have been fooled all along