Gordie Howe bridge opening deal: What we know and don’t know

Federal officials are refusing to share more details about the Canada-U.S. deal to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan as opposition MPs demand answers to lingering questions.

“People here need to know what’s going on and how is this deal supposed to work, and so far, we have scant details whatsoever,” said Conservative MP Harb Gill, whose Windsor West riding includes the new span.

“We heard more from folks running for office on the other side [of the border] than we did from our own government. And that’s disappointing, especially since we paid for the bridge, regardless of what anybody else says.”

The original deal

Under the original bridge deal signed in 2012, Canada would collect all tolls and use the revenue to pay down the cost of building the bridge that now sits at $6.4 billion Cdn. Michigan, which co-owns the crossing with Canada, would get half of toll revenues once the bridge was paid off, likely decades later.

But in February, U.S. President Donald Trump erupted on social media over the bridge, saying he would block it from opening “until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given [Canada].”

That threat came after the owners of the Ambassador Bridge, which is expected to lose toll revenue once the new bridge opens, spent millions on lobbying in Washington and donated heavily to Republicans.

Despite the firestorm, the bridge seemed poised to open in June, but was delayed at the request of the U.S., Prime Minister Mark Carney said at the time.

After weeks of talks between top officials on both sides of the border, there was a breakthrough: On Friday evening, the Canadian government announced the bridge will open July 27 “with the support of the United States government.”

The new deal

The statement said Canada and the U.S. had “agreed to a series of co-operative measures focused on toll governance and transparency, as well as investments in the region, including through the establishment of a 15-year economic development fund tied to a portion of profits from bridge operations.”

WATCH | Knowns and unknowns around the deal to open Gordie Howe bridge:

What we know — and don’t know — about the deal to open the Gordie Howe bridge

The Canadian government announced on Friday evening that the Gordie Howe International Bridge will open on July 27th — with the support of the U.S. government. But questions remain about the agreement to finally open the bridge, and Conservative MPs are looking for answers. CBC Windsor’s Emma Loop reports.

The statement added that the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, the Crown corporation that oversees the new crossing, “will also work collaboratively with the government of the United States on toll-rate adjustments, seeking concurrence for certain non-market related toll changes.”

The statement didn’t provide any more information about the agreement. Trump took credit for the deal, calling it “great, and fair.”

On Saturday, a senior Canadian government source provided a few additional details, telling CBC News that Canada will get 50 per cent of toll profits for the first 15 years and the other half will go toward the regional economic development fund.

The U.S. will also need to agree to toll increases of more than 10 per cent or decreases below regional averages, the source said.

On Sunday, top Canadian officials disclosed a bit more about the deal.

Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson specified on social media that “Canada will continue to collect all toll revenue, with half of net profits then going towards local economic development for 15 years.”

That same day, Carney told CTV Calgary that the word “net” in “net profits” is key. He also appeared to reveal that the half earmarked for the regional economic fund would go to the U.S.

“We are sharing after Canada is paid back,” he said. “So we get the revenues, then the servicing of the costs of the bridge, and paying the debt of the bridge and then what’s leftover, there’s a split of that for 15 years, and the U.S. money is invested back in economic development in the region, in the U.S. side of the region, which is going to help drive more traffic.

“The initial years of this bridge, there is, you know, traffic volumes are going to build up, so there’s not going to be a lot of net to split. So look, it’s a good deal for Canada.”

Carney also falsely stated during that interview that the bridge was done on time and on budget. It was supposed to open in 2024, and the previous price tag was $5.7 billion.

Federal officials decline interview requests

CBC Windsor sought on Monday to get more information about the new deal — how “net profits” would be calculated, what the economic development fund will do, and whether toll rates will remain the same as those announced in March, among other questions.

The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said questions about the agreement should be directed toward the federal government.

So we contacted Robertson’s office to get an interview with the minister. His office said he was unavailable that day. A spokesperson also declined to give more information about the agreement, pointing instead to Carney’s previous comments to CTV and Robertson’s post on X.

We then tried Dominic LeBlanc, the U.S.-Canada trade minister who’s been a key figure in the bridge talks. His office referred us back to Robertson’s team.

CBC Windsor also reached out to the office of a key figure from the U.S. side: Pete Hoekstra, the ambassador to Canada. Staff said he was travelling and unavailable for an interview and they declined to provide more information about the deal.

Tories demand release of agreement

On Monday afternoon, several Conservative MPs wrote to LeBlanc with a list of questions about the deal and demanded that it be made public.

“Canada financed the bridge, its approaches, ports of entry and the Michigan connection to Interstate 75,” the letter reads. “Your announcement, however, speaks vaguely of ‘co-operative measures’ on tolls, American concurrence for certain changes, and a 15-year economic development fund tied to bridge profits — without disclosing the full agreement or its costs to Canadians.”

Gill, the local MP, told CBC Windsor that the Liberal government needs to be more forthcoming with the details of the deal, noting that people in the Windsor-Essex region are “very reasonable” and understand the give-and-take involved in cross-border trade.

“Whenever there’s an absence of information, people start making up their own theories,” he said. “I’d rather not go that way. I’d rather get a proper accounting from them to say this is what we agreed to and this is why we agreed to [it], this is what we got in return and this is what we gave up.

“Those are things that people here expect.”