The massive kerfuffle over the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge should not have happened at all. However, it has been very instructive for Canadians about many issues unconnected to the bridge itself. The facts are now finally clear, despite the best efforts of Prime Minister Mark Carney, his Liberal colleagues and the Canadian legacy media to obfuscate what was really happening. We finally got the truth, no thanks to anyone on the Canadian side of the border.
For starters, the terms of the original deal between the U.S. and Canada around the bridge, negotiated by former prime minister Stephen Harper back in 2012, are crystal clear. Net revenues (after expenses like salaries for toll booth staff, snow removal etc.) were to be devoted to paying off the $6.4 billion cost Canada incurred for building the bridge. Once the debt was paid off, net revenues would be split between Canada and the U.S. Canada fulfilled its responsibilities and paid the total costs for building the bridge. It shouldn’t have been too much to ask for the U.S. to also fulfill its initial commitments.
As the opening date for the bridge approached, however, the Trump administration decided it wanted more out of the deal. It did indeed end up with more than was in the original deal. The final deal will split net revenues between Canada and the U.S. for 15 years without any monies being devoted to the total costs of building the bridge. Carney initially refused to release the contents of the deal to the media and the public, and effectively said the final deal contained the same terms as the previous deal. This was a complete fabrication. While the Canadian legacy media went along with this Carney statement with zero evidence to prove it was true, the U.S. media outlet Bloomberg obtained the text of the deal and released it publicly.
This experience teaches Canadians some lessons about the Liberal government and the media that go far beyond the issue of the bridge itself. For one, Carney will not hesitate to lie if he believes telling the truth will make him look bad. Even some Conservatives were kind enough to give him some leeway on the dishonesty issue, saying that perhaps he didn’t understand the terms of the eventual agreement. This is pretty hard to believe as the terms were very clear and well laid out in the final agreement. As Carney has been highly secretive with Canadians on many issues, this raises serious questions about other things he must be hiding.
The second lesson is that Canadian legacy media cannot be trusted and will be fine with going along with Carney as long as it keeps their multi-billion-dollar subsidies with our tax dollars flowing. Despite these subsidies, you have to wonder how long the legacy media will tolerate the Carney government making them look like complete idiots. This episode is a real black mark on these media outlets, and yet another reason why Canadians rightly believe they cannot trust the legacy media. It’s a shame that Canadians have to rely on U.S. media outlets – as well as our growing independent media sector in Canada – for the facts because our legacy media are just fine with publishing fiction.
The bridge snafu also indicates that despite Carney running in last year’s election on the premise he was the only politician that would stand up to Trump, the reality is he caves in whenever he is actually required to have a backbone. He also gave up Canada’s Digital Sales Tax some time ago, which was an irritant to the U.S. In both cases of the DST and the bridge, Canada received nothing in return for these concessions. Seems Carney isn’t much of a negotiator after all.
Another lesson is for the U.S. in ongoing trade relations with Canada. The Carney government has been resistant to entering formal negotiations with the U.S., seemingly under the assumption that continuing to fight with the U.S. gives the Liberals partisan political advantage because of Trump hatred in Canada. This is a shameful stance to begin with, as Carney is putting partisan interests ahead of the economic interests of Canadian businesses and employees who have been suffering for months because of the uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade. Businesses have said time and again that they want a trade deal nailed down as soon as feasible. Unfortunately, every time Carney caves in to U.S. interests it sends a signal to the U.S. that Canada will be a pushover in the eventual Canada-U.S. trade negotiations.
The good news is that after all this drama, the bridge will finally open next week. This will help Canada’s economy in opening up competition to the Ambassador bridge and provide another conduit for the massive amount of trade that takes place between Canada and the U.S. daily. The bad news is that Carney negotiated a worse deal for Canada than originally planned and showed once again he is a weak negotiator.
Gordie Howe was a terrific hockey player, a humble, decent man off the ice and a relentless competitor when playing in a game. Given all this foolishness around the opening of the bridge named after him, he must be spinning in his grave.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
