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Mark Carney pressed to clarify Gordie Howe bridge toll sharing with U.S. in confidential deal
Prime Minister Mark Carney continued to face questions on Thursday about the financial details of a deal his government made with the United States to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge on July 27.
In particular, Carney was pressed on what share of the tolls will go to each party, given that originally Canada was to receive all the tolls until it was fully repaid for fully financing the bridge, after which the two countries would split the revenues. The terms of the new deal, agreed to last week, have not been disclosed by either the Canadian or U.S. government. Carney has said the new arrangement will see the U.S. immediately getting some share of revenues, but has been pressed to clarify exactly how much.
“We will split net revenues over the course of the first 15 years, and those net revenues are after operational costs,” said Carney, during a press conference in London, Ont. on Thursday. “It’s manning the toll booths, it’s maintenance, it’s snow removal, a series of other operational costs.”
Carney had originally told CTV News on Sunday that the split in net revenue with the U.S. will come after accounting for debt-servicing costs on Canada’s financing for the bridge.
But Bloomberg News reported this week that a U.S. official contradicted that and that interest costs will not be included in the calculation. The prime minister made no reference to debt-servicing costs in his comments on Thursday.
Carney said no split of the toll revenue will happen until after the debt is repaid and he expects net revenues for the first couple of years to be “modest.”
The connector from Windsor, Ont. to Detroit, began construction in 2018 to address the congestion on the privately owned Ambassador Bridge, which handles just over a quarter of all Canada-U.S. trade.
The construction was financed by Canada at a cost of $6.4 billion and an agreement was struck with Michigan to allow Canada to receive all the revenue until it could recover those costs. Michigan and Canada are joint owners of the bridge.
In February, U.S. President Donald Trump said he did not agree with those terms of the deal and eventually blocked an opening ceremony that was scheduled to take place in June after construction had completed, reportedly on the urging of U.S. Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick.
On Friday, Ottawa announced that an agreement had been reached to open the bridge on July 27. On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump indicated in a post on Truth Social that the new deal was more lucrative for the American side.
“I was able to cut a MUCH BETTER DEAL for America,” he wrote. “The original deal made was unacceptable to me!”
On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was asked if he knew any details on the new agreement.
“That’s a question for the prime minister to answer,” said Ford, during a press conference in Windsor, Ont. “I’m sure it was between the president and the prime minister that struck the deal.”
“But if I knew, I’d mention it,” the premier added.
There is speculation that the reason for Trump and Lutnick’s opposition to the bridge opening has to do with lobbying efforts by the Moroun family, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, a crossing that stands to lose revenue to a competing trade route. Lutnick had met with the owner prior to Trump cancelling the June opening.
On Monday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilken speculated to reporters that the Ambassador Bridge could be sold to a regional border authority once the Gordie Howe bridge opens.
The agreement also includes a portion of profits from bridge operations going towards a regional economic fund in the U.S.
Carney said those investments will benefit bridge traffic.
“The incentives are aligned here because the reinvestment in regional economic development on the Michigan side, mainly the Michigan side, that’s obviously good for Michigan, but it’s also good for Canada because it’s going to reinforce the traffic,” he said.
National Post
With files from Catherine Lévesque and Taylor Campbell
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