Opposition MPs are expressing increasing frustration over the lack of details about how a deal between the U.S. and Canada to open a long-awaited major border crossing will work, with several calling on the federal government to release a copy of the agreement.
Both the Conservatives and NDP have now written to the Liberal government demanding more information about the pact to open the $6.4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge, which Canada paid for in full.
“Canadians are asking for full transparency regarding the costs of this project and the text of the recent Canada-U.S. agreement,” NDP MP Heather McPherson, the party’s critic for international trade, wrote Monday. “We find it unacceptable that your government has refused to answer questions about this project.”
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
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Under the original crossing agreement signed more than a decade ago, Canada was set to recoup the costs using toll revenues and then would split the revenues with the state of Michigan.
Earlier this month, the Canadian government announced that it had struck a fresh deal with the U.S. to open the bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit on July 27. The statement said the new pact includes provisions around toll management and investment of some profits into an economic development fund for 15 years. It provided few other details.
Various spokespeople for federal offices declined at the time to answer questions seeking more details.
In the week that followed, Prime Minister Mark Carney offered reporters seemingly contradictory information about the deal — a deal that followed weeks of uncertainty after the bridge’s June opening was delayed.
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Carney and Gregor Robertson, the housing and infrastructure minister, initially said the new pact included a plan to split “net profits” from tolls evenly between Canada and the economic development fund — which Carney has said will go toward the U.S. side of the border.
It’s unclear how there would be any profits over the next 15 years to split after debt repayments, which Carney said would come first.
But on Thursday, he said the split would be of “net revenues” after operational costs, such as maintenance and toll booth staffing. He also said the previous crossing agreement remains in place.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has said the split of net revenues will happen before Canada’s debt payments — seemingly contradicting the prime minister’s earlier comments.
“Our share is before interest and principal,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posted on social media. “This is the Art of the Deal in action.”
The text of the agreement does not include a provision related to Canada’s debt repayment, according to Bloomberg News.
On Friday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote to Carney about the differing explanations of the agreement.
Prime Minister,<br><br>Canadians are not stupid.<br><br>Stop speaking in riddles. Stop contradicting yourself in the same breath. Just own up that you signed a deal to hand over half the profits on a bridge, that was 100% built with Canadian tax dollars, before getting repaid.<br><br>Release the… <a href=”https://t.co/DXcRRK7k8z”>https://t.co/DXcRRK7k8z</a>
“Yesterday, while answering questions about the deal, you made directly contradictory statements about what you’ve given away,” Poilievre wrote. “First, you said, ‘It’s not splitting the tolls of the bridge.’ Then you continued, ‘It is an agreement for 15 years to split net revenues.’
“But you just said you would not be splitting the tolls, so which is it? Are the Americans getting a cut or not?”
Poilievre also questioned Carney’s descriptions of when and how Canada’s debt would be repaid.
The NDP’s letter, sent to Robertson and Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, criticized the government’s refusal to explain how the bridge’s net profits will be calculated, “especially given reports that Canada and the Windsor community may receive fewer benefits from this project than our U.S. counterparts.
“Moreover, Canadians are learning more details about this agreement from U.S. sources rather than our own government,” McPherson continued. “Canadians paid for this bridge and deserve to know the details.”
