Is The Windsor/Detroit Border File Really Over Now

Of course it is, although it has not been officially announced yet by anyone formally. But then again, isn't that why you come to read my materials because I tell you what the reality is.  

What is going to happen is pretty much what I have suggested for years now and should have happened but for the people handling this matter from our Governments who had their own agenda. Fortunately, I think that a lot has now been replaced by something that should make much more sense and which should lead to a quick resolution between the relevant parties. Read on! 

There is material I read a few days ago published in Toronto's Globe and Mail that I thought was fascinating and in which I thought gave me the answer right away of what was going to happen.  It certainly was not the position that was being put forward by the previous Government of Canada being run by the Conservatives. I was rather surprised that no one else had written something similar that I had seen in the media.  I'll describe it shortly. 

Here's something that should interest you right away and give the foundation for what will happen here very soon I believe: 

"Mr. Trudeau said he was disappointed by the Keystone rejection, but respects Mr. Obama’s decision. This is a major change from the tone of the former Conservative government. The Liberals are trying to remove the pipeline project as an irritant between Canada and the United States. Mr. Trudeau had long criticized former prime minister Stephen Harper for hectoring the Americans about the pipeline, saying it hurt relations." (Steven Chase and Paul Koring The Globe and Mail Nov. 06, 2015, updated Nov. 07, 2015)

The dispute between Canada and the US with respect to Windsor/Detroit dealing with the border crossing here needs to be ended immediately to remove another irritant doesn't it! 

Of course it has to be ended quickly, although we do not know yet what the border change will be between Windsor and Detroit. Will it be the type of bridge put forward by the Ambassador Bridge Company or one that was being proposed by the previous Conservative Government and the Government of Michigan? More importantly, who is going to own it? 

Well the answer should be easy: the new bridge is going to be the Ambassador Bridge Company type of bridge in the location that it favours although the structure of it respecting the ownership and who will construct it and then operate it has not been finalized yet. Who knows if there even have been any conversations but they will come soon enough.  That is what will have to be decided eventually for the good economically for this country in many different ways. 

What that means in my opinion is the following. Will this new set-up be:  

1) the building of a new bridge that will be built by and owned privately only by the Ambassador Bridge Company as it is now,

2) a new bridge that will be built that will be jointly owned by the Ambassador Bridge Company and Canada and United States Governments, probably majority-owned by the Ambassador Bridge Company or

3) a new Governments bridge with payment being made to the Bridge Company to end their involvement in the border bridges, including their old one which will still exist, completely? 

Here is how I know that and it appears that not too many other people seem to know it. It is an interesting article written in the Globe and Mail by Barrie McKenna on November 18, 2015: 

"Liberals drop public-private requirement for infrastructure funding

The federal government will no longer require that cities and provinces look first at creating public-private partnerships before getting funding for major infrastructure projects.

The new Liberal government, which is preparing to roll out $5-billion a year in additional infrastructure spending, will work much more co-operatively with other governments to get the money out the door, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Amarjeet Sohi told The Globe and Mail."

So much for the nonsense that we have been suffering in this Country for so long with the old program put on by the Conservatives for setting up P3s in Canada that will build and operate major functions like the bridge here.

"The move suggests the new government may be less enthusiastic than the Conservatives about P3s, in which in which governments and private contractors share the costs and the risks of projects, everything from roads and transit systems to courts and schools."

This case is constitutionally just a Federal one involving our Federal Government only which means it does not have to deal with any of the other Governments municipally or provincially.  It structures the deal, probably excluding P3s, and would be the one who would own and operate the bridge with the party, probably a private one, that would actually build and operate the new bridge. That party could probably be the owner as well or at least a part owner with the Federal Government also being involved.  It is probably likely they would just be the builder/operator only over a period of years.

Of course, the situation in Windsor/Detroit is considerably different because the border crossing here is owned completely by a private party unlike other border crossings.  That is why it has to be handled differently as well.

"The move comes amid growing skepticism about P3 projects. Critics argue that P3s can cost governments more over the life of a project because private partners face higher borrowing costs than governments...

Alberta’s NDP government recently announced it is reviewing the costs and benefits of all P3 projects.

A 2014 report by Ontario Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk found the province spent nearly $8-billion extra over the past nine years to farm out infrastructure-building to private companies rather than handling the projects on its own. Ms. Lysyk found the private companies paid significantly more for financing and received a hefty premium from tax payers for assuming risk."

What a waste of money for reasons that never made any sense!  One has to wonder then why they were done in the first place. Who knows!

The questions are easy ones on the border file here. Who needs to spend money in public–private partnerships that are a horrific waste of money where the private parties involved receive a "hefty premium?" Why not be dealing with the Ambassador Bridge Company in Windsor/Detroit whose budget for their project has been identified as about a quarter of what the former Federal Government was going to pay for the Detroit River Bridge project? That seems obvious to me.

So the answer really is that the border file should definitely be over finally here after all of these years.

Thank goodness that the people involved on the political side are no longer running it. We will have to be careful about the people on the governmental side and especially within the Civil Service about what they suggest given what I believe was there: an animosity with the Ambassador Bridge Company that had been going on for many years.

The end result will be quite easy from a budget perspective and can end very quickly if proper negotiations start soon so that our economy in this region starts improving rapidly. The Ambassador Bridge Company will either own everything as it does now or it will be involved with the Governments in the project and its ownership part of its ownership will be negotiated or it will be paid a huge sum of money and it will sell out its interest.

It's as simple as that!