Windsor and Detroit Border Future: What MUST Happen Next

Please excuse me, but there's no need for me to write a complicated article dealing with what should be done with respect to a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit especially after what happened in Paris, France a few days ago.  The answer is obvious and should be dealt with immediately, as I shall write about further down below. 

The solution is pretty clear with respect to the border in this incident, and remember that these are my own feelings about the situation.  

With a death toll of around 140 people who were in Paris during the attacks, there is a strong suggestion being made that the attacks were organized and put on by ISIS to kill people as a threat to the Governments involved and other business people in their countries. The attacks were meant to force them to agree to do whatever it is that the ISIS group wants or else suffer further consequences. 

Presumably, the idea was to terrorize not only the French but also their allies such as people in Great Britain, United States and Canada. Perhaps the feeling was that certain countries would help them out because they are afraid of what damage could happen to their citizens and therefore give into the demands of ISIS. 

What seems to be happening is that the Governments in these countries and their allies now want to destroy ISIS.  They are not afraid of ISIS representatives, but rather want to attack them and defeat them as quickly as possible. They do not want ISIS around anymore to terrorize their people. 

In my opinion, what happened is that this brutal attack by ISIS did not terrorize the Governments, but rather it provided the ammunition for them to destroy ISIS and put them out of business right away. It allowed them to talk to their own citizens who would then give the Government leaders the power to destroy ISIS staff as quickly as possible thereafter. That is what is being talked about now and I think will continue until the appropriate action is taken. 

Let me talk about Canada and United States, two of the countries in the world who could be leaders in destroying ISIS now. 

Let me also talk about these countries in light of what is going on in the border file between Canada and United States in the Windsor/Detroit area, as far as setting up a new border crossing is concerned.

 

First, here is what is obviously happening. The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada have no choice but to work together, and along with their allies destroy ISIS, whether they really want to or not. They really do not have an alternative. They have to play the role as leaders and take the appropriate action.  

It is not unreasonable to believe that both countries may well be subject to attack by ISIS fighters, if they do not do anything. The leaders may hope that the focus will be on Europe only and therefore feel no need to react now.  

In my opinion, this is wrong.  Surely they cannot be that naive!   

The stories in the newspapers suggest that ISIS is prepared to go worldwide to destroy their opponents. Our Leaders must be proactive to ensure the safety of our citizens, as we are all targets in one way or another.  We must be leaders now to destroy ISIS or we will experience similar outcomes, as we can see happened in France. 

So what must be done in respect to the second issue. Very simple. Figure out a way to take down ISIS so negative consequences will not occur in North America and work together.  

There is no doubt in my mind that the 2 Governments will not be able to form alliances with others in order to defeat ISIS. They will get allies just by asking others, especially those who are considered potential enemies of ISIS.  These 2 Governments also need people who are experts in the area and who have strong ideas about how to react. 

In Windsor/Detroit, the obvious party who can help the 2 Governments as a key player is the Ambassador Bridge Company! I'm sure that this would not surprise you at all, whether you are a pro or an anti-Ambassador Bridge Company type. The Governments and the Bridge Company have to work together as quickly as possible to come up with a solution that will protect the biggest border crossing in North America between Canada and United States. 

Here are a few of my thoughts. Presumably the Governments and the Ambassador Bridge Company are viewed as enemies that hate each other. It certainly seems that way doesn't it? How many times has the Canadian Government attacked the Bridge Company over the last 10-15 years or so and vice versa in some of the nastiest of ways? Well, whatever the answer is, it all has to change with the 2 sides now working together with other relevant partners.  It has to take place in this area because it is the number one border crossing between Canada and United States. However, it has to happen all over other parts of North America as well with many other border companies involved.  

In this area, what must be done is easy to figure out. The parties have to work together co-operatively to fight and defeat totally our opposition. It may seem to be difficult to accomplish but that can be handled in a relatively easy manner as well by the various parties.

First of all, let us stop this nonsense about trying to put the Ambassador Bridge Company out of business or to force them to sell out as quickly as possible and at as low a price as possible. It's just not going to happen and has not happened so far. The Governments and the Bridge Company have to understand each other's position and resolve their differences. The fighting between them over the last excessive number of years has really not achieved anything of great significance from either side's position other than wasting millions of dollars and creating divisiveness. 

Next, in order to achieve this, the parties must sit down together and work out how they will operate the border crossing between Canada and the United States in the Windsor/Detroit area. They have to learn how to co-operate with each other in the most positive of manners.

For one alternative as a suggestion, the parties could now become co-owners together of both the old bridge that would be fixed up and a new crossing that would be built. Each of the parties would have shares in the new structure, although I would expect that the majority would still be owned by the Ambassador Bridge Company.

Another alternative could be that the Ambassador Bridge Company would remain the exclusive owner of the new bridge and be able to combine it with its older bridge. In other words, the crossing will now be 2 bridges right beside each other. It will look very much like a number of the other border crossings today between the 2 countries. They don't have separate border crossings several miles apart with competition between the Governments and a private company.

In my opinion, I don't anticipate major problems between the Ambassador Bridge Company and the US government because I think that they can work together to come up with the best workable solution. I also believe that the new Liberal Government can work a lot easier with the Ambassador Bridge Company than the Conservative Government could ever have done with the animosity between those 2 organizations in Canada over so many years. 

If I am right, after some negotiations that should not last a very long time. In my opinion, the 2 Governments and the Ambassador Bridge Company should be able to work out an appropriate border crossing solution and re-establish a positive relationship amongst the parties that should last for a very long time.

Next, the parties are going to have to deal with how this project is going to be financed and who will put up the money. The Bridge Company talked about their project costing about $500 million while the Governments' cost is said to be at least $2 billion. Is it not obvious which one should be considered at this stage because of the lesser amount of money involved! Who will put up the cash as well has to be considered and there are a variety of ways that it could be done. 

Those are the major issues that have to be resolved. It should not be hard to do and could be done very quickly. Clearly, the parties also have to settle all of the outstanding differences between them, such as the lawsuits, but I expect that too can be resolved in a friendly manner and in a very quick way as well.

There you have it. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in a very short period of time. It should be easy to accomplish amongst the key parties involved in Canada and United States, as the largest and one of the most advanced border crossings between us.