Conflict on the border between the USA and Canada. Carney explains who paid for the bridge

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney explained in a telephone conversation to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday that Canada paid for the construction of the border bridge between Windsor and Detroit. This is a new bridge that Trump wants to block from opening.

“I explained that Canada paid 4 billion dollars (Canadian – PAP) for the construction of the bridge and that the co-owners are the state of Michigan and the government of Canada,” Carney said before the government meeting, quoted by the media. He also added that he told Trump that both Canadian and American steel were used to build the bridge, and workers from both countries took part in the project.

“This is a great example of cooperation between our countries. I am happy about its opening,” Carney emphasized.

Trump announced on Monday that he intends to block the opening of a new bridge between Windsor, Canada, and Detroit, USA. “I will not allow this bridge to be opened until the US receives full compensation for everything we have given them (Canada – PAP) and also, importantly, until Canada starts treating the US with the Honesty and Respect we deserve,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social social network. The president argued that the US should own half of the bridge.

Back in 2017, Trump supported the construction of the Gordie Howe Bridge, which began in 2018. After talks in Washington with then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February 2017, the bridge was described in a joint communiqué as a particularly important “economic connection between the two countries” and expressed hope for its quick completion.

The Canadian government signed an agreement with the state of Michigan to build the bridge in 2012, and this agreement ensures that Canada and Michigan will own the facility. The Canadian side paid for all the initial construction costs of the bridge, and the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, a state-owned company owned by the Government of Canada, is to be responsible for its operation. However, the bridge supervising the so-called The International Authority consists of an equal number of representatives from Canada and the state of Michigan, recalled public broadcaster CBC.

“As everyone knows, Canada has treated the U.S. very unfairly for decades,” Trump argued in his tweet on Monday, claiming that Canada owns the entire bridge. “What America Gets – Absolutely Nothing!” – wrote the US president, who later in the message complained that the province of Ontario does not allow the sale of American alcohol, and “now, in addition, Prime Minister Carney wants to conclude an agreement with China, which will eat Canada alive.” Trump also said China would “end ALL ice hockey competitions in Canada and completely eliminate the Stanley Cup.”

CBC recalled that there is already another bridge between Windsor and Detroit, the Ambassador Bridge, which is owned by an American family from Detroit with the surname Moroun. There is an ongoing legal dispute over this bridge between the American owners and the Canadian government. The Moroun family believes it allegedly has exclusive rights to collect tolls on the bridge between Canada and the U.S. and is seeking compensation for a new bridge.

The owners of the Ambassador Bridge have already lost in court once in an attempt to stop the construction of the bridge, and in 2018 they even tried to influence public opinion with a special anti-Canadian advertisement.

From Toronto Anna Lach (PAP)

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