I Have Had Enough With The Border File

 

 What a title isn't it! 

How could that possibly be written you might be wondering considering how much work I have done. It is a very simple answer. There is no reasonable alternative to what I am going to suggest.  If that is so, I'm going to set it out here and then, unless there is some significant issue that comes up, I am not going to write anything more about the border file. I have had enough of this topic and am not going to waste any more time on it. 

I have been involved in dealing with the border file for over a decade. I have been involved in a number of online publication websites that I ran by myself or with others where I have written about it and dealing with different public organizations with others in which the border was the main element. 

Of course, as you  recall, I left the local publication just over a year ago. Then, days later, I almost died. I was hospitalized and had to deal with the encephalitis virus itself and the consequences it brought, which took me so long to try to get back. I'm still not there yet, but I'm getting better. During this time frame, I did not do much writing at all. 

With the nonsense still going on between all the parties involved in this matter, I saw some new information about events that happened to another bridge. This event  became to me a key border element. Thanks to it, I now know about how to get a Windsor/Detroit solution that is workable. 

To be blunt about it, I'm sick and tired of the ridiculous situation that has gone on for so many years here. Let me be direct: I am completely fed up with it all.  

Here's something that has happened in Canada recently that could happen in our area with respect to the Ambassador Bridge. Given how old that bridge is, it too could have a mess that is very serious. While not the same event, the Bridge's old age could produce something similar in Windsor/Detroit if something happened that resulted in a serious flaw: 

"Nipigon River Bridge critical to Canada's transportation network  

The success of the country's commercial transportation network hinges on the Nipigon River Bridge, a vulnerability exposed when the northern Ontario crossing broke Sunday and severed the trucking route between Eastern and Western Canada.  

Roughly 1,300 trucks cross over that stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway each day, carrying $100 million worth of food, mail, machinery and other goods, according to 2012 figures provided by the Canadian Trucking Alliance.  

"Every truck that drives across Canada, will go across that bridge," Nipigon Mayor Richard Harvey said Monday. "The country has been cut in half … and from that perspective, it's an issue of national importance." 

Police initially shut the bridge to traffic Sunday evening after the crossing's west side began to pull away from its abutment, lifting the deck by about 60 centimetres... 

There are rural logging roads in the area, about 100 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont., but those don't have the infrastructure to support most commercial or passenger vehicles. There's no alternative to the bridge, other than taking a detour through the United States." (http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/nipigon-river-bridge-critical-to-canadas-transportation-network/ar-CCqLUb?li=AAggFp5) 

Seriously, is it any different in the Windsor area other than the operation here is so  much bigger? Oh sure, there may well be some other crossings for cars here but are there really any others for trucks that make any sense! Isn't truck crossing so important for the Ambassador Bridge for the success economically in this country. The answers are obvious especially considering how important a role it has for our area. 

Without going into a long explanation about why I'm doing it, my solution to how the border file should be finally completed should be obvious. Is it really any different from what I talked about starting more than a decade ago? Of course not. I really have been writing about it so many times and for so long. I finally decided, given my condition healthwise, that I merely have to discuss this one more time to give the best solution and then get out of it. 

The reality really is, given what happened on the Nipigon River Bridge, that something similar could happen here after such long-term, ridiculous fighting between the Governments and the Ambassador Bridge Company. 

IT MUST STOP NOW! 

If the fighting does not, then the economic position between our 2 countries would collapse.  It could be even worse for Canada because what could happen is that the Canadian companies that are involved economically in this country would set up their operations in the United States instead. They would never want to cross the border again. 

For the last time, I'm going to set out what must be done to get this going again in the best possible manner between Canada and the United States. My solution is completely workable and frankly, is what I think that  all have known was going to happen but some hoped they could get something different.  

Let me set it out in a very simple fashion.  It is a Governments/Ambassador  Bridge Company deal and the ending of litigation forever: 

- The Bridge Company and the Governments of Canada and United States will join together to form a relationship in a border crossing company, either a new one or the Ambassador Bridge Company, in which the Bridge Company owns 90% of the shares and each of the Governments owns 5%. I believe that the structure is much better for the Governments because I believe that they are not entitled legally to build anything with respect to border crossing in this area.

 

-That Company will own, build and operate the new river border crossing between Windsor and Detroit that will now be a dual bridge operation.  Each of the Bridge Company and the Governments will be involved because of their shareholdings.

-For this new deal and given the shares that are going to be provided to them, the 2 Governments will pay significant sums of money that should be close to the cost of building the new bridge.  Right now, that money is a mere fraction of what was identified recently as the $5 billion plus cost to build the Governments' new bridge.

-The new Bridge will be built immediately and as quickly as possible. All 3 parties will agree on its construction solution. Once it is finished, then the old Ambassador Bridge will be closed down, updated and repaired. However, the old Bridge will generally not be used once fixed up except in emergency cases or if the traffic increases so dramatically that a 2nd bridge is required.

-If traffic increases very dramatically in the future, then it may well be necessary to build a bridge as the Governments were supposedly going to do so. If so, then the Ambassador Bridge Company will be responsible again to build it and it will form part of the existing company. The likelihood of this happening is quite remote.

-There will be a detailed agreement signed between the Ambassador Bridge Company and the 2 Governments that set out the terms of their relationship and the manner in which they will be operating the new border crossings. It will also require their settlement of their ongoing litigation to end those battles satisfactorily and to prevent them from happening again.

-There will be terms in the agreement that cover if a party wishes to sell its shares or to buy some of those of the other parties. This would be of particular importance primarily if the Bridge Company wished to sell out or to buy out the Governments.

Of course, there will have to be very detailed agreements signed between the parties but the important parts of it will be as set up above.  I hardly think that the contracts would be all that complicated to do. Nor do I really think that they will require a very long time to negotiate a settlement. What I have set out is relatively easy to accomplish and is absolutely consistent with what I believe the Law between the parties requires as a settlement. 

So that is it my dear friends. I'm not going to talk about the ending of the horrible relationship between the parties any more because it should have been something that was agreed to  many, many years ago. In fact, the Ambassador Bridge Company's position as far as I'm concerned has been improved and it is in the interests of the Governments to resolve all of it now. 

That is it. The end. 

Now, I can go and start writing about other matters in my website. I have had enough of the border file and the nasty relationships that I have seen for far too long and which never should have happened in the first place. 

End of topic!