Deep Throat And The Return Of DRTP (Part 1)
Here I was at one of the local restaurants looking over the luncheon specials and hoping that the waitress wouldn’t shout at me because I was too late when I heard a voice say “The Spanish omelette is a very good choice.”
I knew immediately who it was without having to look up.
“What a remarkable coincidence that we both happened to choose the same restaurant at the same time to have a meal,” Deep Throat said.
Coincidence? I hardly think so. Obviously, I had been followed but did not know it until the appropriate time for Deep Throat to make his presence known. As I looked up, I thought I saw the shadow of a military man walking outside of the restaurant window.
“May I join you,” he said as he was already sitting down. As the waitress passed by, he called out “Two luncheon specials please along with rye toast and coffee. Cream and one sugar isn't it? One cheque would be fine.”
I knew that I was going to get stuck with the tab. I always was.
My last meeting with Deep Throat was a very unusual one. I had never seen him so pessimistic before probably because he was so uncertain about what was going to happen. He even complimented me on some of my BLOGs, again, something very unusual.
As we left each other, I remember what he said to me, “It is up to you and your fellow Bloggers to let the public know what is going on. Citizens of Windsor need to be involved in this process and only the Bloggers are letting people know what is really going on with the odd traditional media exception.”
The waitress came with our coffee and, before she brought our lunches, Deep Throat looked at me with the usual twinkle in his eye. It always unnerved me because I was not sure whether he was mocking me or having fun with me or was just happy that he could share a conversation with someone outside of his normal realm of activities, “Tell me Blogmeister, have you been confused about anything to do with the border file over the past few weeks? Or maybe, something to do with other files that just do not seem right?”
“Of course,” I said. “You obviously have read the BLOG that I wrote about Minister Van Loan. His comment made absolutely no sense to me:
- "Under a proposal favoured by Ottawa, American officials would check U.S.-bound trucks on the Canadian side of the border and vice versa, easing trade bottlenecks.
Van Loan said he suggested a pilot project at the Windsor-Detroit border but nothing was settled.”
Reverse customs? Something that the Ambassador Bridge Company has been advocating for years. Why were they proposing that it be done here and not at Fort Erie, for example, where they were working on Shared Border Management for years so that parts of Buffalo would not have to be destroyed with an expanded truck Plaza?
Was it a quid pro quo? We give you reverse customs or SBM and you give us the DRIC bridge?
Were they on the other hand offering this up as a peace token to the Bridge Company and now another Minister was going to get involved. Someone who had a reputation of being tough and aggressive. His nickname was Mr. Van Ogre!”
“Yes I noticed that BLOG of yours. I was quite impressed that you picked it up.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere with me,” I said laughingly. “But there is more.
Then there was the bizarre statement about what would happen at our Mayor's transportation hub:
- “The Star, however, has learned that the city's strategy would include a centre consolidating U.S. and Canadian inspection and security agencies. "Concentration of all inspection and border processes would be located under one roof, including the Canada Border Service Agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Transport Canada" and other U.S. and Canadian authorities, according to city documents.”
It is ludicrous to believe that all of this would take place just for one big Russian cargo jet that might land here once or twice a week. I just cannot believe that Windsor would be a cargo centre given Aerotropolis in Detroit.
How about the College Avenue Bridge:
- “Another top priority is replacing the College Avenue bridge -- a symbol of Windsor's infrastructure decay and in such disrepair Palanacki had it shut down as a safety hazard. A new bridge would cost $11.3 million.”
That had a funny smell about it to me:
- “We inspect our bridges on a regular basis. We have been closely monitoring this bridge for 15 years and we know it's near the end of its lifespan," said Palanacki of the bridge built in 1927.
It is expected the bridge will be closed to traffic for at least a year -- and likely much longer -- while the city irons out plans for the corridor with CP Railway which travels under the bridge, Palanacki said.
City administrators decided to hold off on replacement of the bridge since the railway line -- which leads into the entrance of the Detroit River rail tunnel -- has for years been caught up in the border truck debate.
There was talk starting seven years ago by a group known as Detroit River Tunnel Partnership of the rail tunnel corridor being converted for truck traffic, but recently the group has shifted focus to instead build a new CP high-stack rail tunnel linking with Detroit.
"Administration has not been in position to recommend reconstruction if there were going to be changes to the rail line either with DRTP or the rail tunnel, so we kept deferring it," Palanacki said.”
Our lunch special was served and I started gobbling it down because I was famished by then. In between mouthfuls, I said, “There is even more. There are so many things that I find surprising that I just cannot explain. Take for instance Transport Canada Minister Baird coming to town, meeting with the Mayor and hardly a word in the Star about it until some days later and even then not much of a discussion about it at all.
How about what DRIC was proposing with respect to the E C Row West of Huron Church Road? As you said to me before:
- “Instead of building a truck highway that would run parallel to E.C. Row, 50 metres to the south, it [DRIC] now wants to put international truck traffic in the centre portion of a new 10-lane E.C. Row, separated from local traffic running on either side.”
A 10 lane Expressway! Can you believe it and not a word of opposition from the Mayor. He is thrilled with it and applauds it.
The Mayor has told us enough times recently that he is not opposed to what the County wants with respect to Manning Road but that he is just concerned about sequencing…
As you can see now, in both the East and West ends of the Expressway, we are going to see major upgrades. Can the centre, the part that runs through the City, be far behind? I hardly think so.
There are some of us who are cynical enough to believe that the changes being made to the Expressway today are nothing more than a precursor to the construction that will take place in a few years when that road is upgraded completely to as many as 10 lanes. There would be five lanes in each direction with two lanes dedicated for trucks only to allow them to have a direct connection from Highway 401 to the border.”
As usual, my food started getting stuck in my throat as I started talking about all this stuff. I was getting myself all worked up over it and getting indigestion. It really bothered me that I could not figure out what was going on.
Deep Throat almost burst out laughing and would have sprayed me with the coffee that he was drinking just like in the movies. “My goodness Blogmeister. You are getting much better now than ever. My teachings must have rubbed off on you. You have identified just about everything that is confusing everyone.”
“Everyone but you, I assume dear friend,” I said to Deep Throat. “I know that you are not going to tell me the obvious answer but that you are going to let me figure it out myself. Your Socratic method of teaching me things reminds me of law school. Okay, okay. What is the hint that is going to make me look foolish because I couldn’t figure out the obvious?”
posted by JoeBlog at 9:50 a.m.
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