Another Border News Story

I have said this on this website a number of times and yet, things keep changing.

I have said, dear reader, that I do not want to write very many more stories on the border file. There's no point in doing so to be quite honest about it because one knows what has to be done. It is very simple. A deal, whatever it is, has to be arranged between the Government of Canada and the Ambassador Bridge Company or else nothing frankly is going to happen for many more years. If ever!

For whatever reason, it seems that the Government of Canada is unable to force the Bridge Company out of business. If Canada wants the Ambassador Bridge, why doesn't the Government just expropriate its Canadian interests now. There must be a strong legal reason why the Government cannot do so. Accordingly, there will have to be lawsuit after lawsuit in both Canada and the US until there is some final resolution determined. The Government may think that ultimately it will win. If so, one would have thought that it would have started the process already legally to take over the Bridge. It has not done so. Unfortunately, I expect all of the Government action that will take at least another decade or more before there is a final resolution one way or the other.

I found the article in the Windsor Star and the short videotape that was part of it quite fascinating to let us know what the situation is at this time. Doug Schmidt wrote the article in the Windsor Star on July 16, 2016: "A 2020 opening of the new Windsor-Detroit bridge is looking like a long shot."  It was hardly one that suggested that the Government position was a strong one at this time. All that it is saying is that the process may take many more years before it is completed.

I found this part very interesting and hopeful that this may really take place especially after what is being revealed by the Government:

"Asked whether a government purchase of the Ambassador Bridge might be in play, Duncan wouldn’t say yes or no, only that there had been “two or three informal meets” over the past several months. There was no “Government of Canada mandate to proceed further,” he said."

In other words, there may well be some deal that has been discussed between the Bridge Company and the Government as an example whereby the Government gets a piece of the Ambassador Bridge but the Moroun Family still runs it under an agreement that is arranged between the parties.  There is no finality yet but there is nothing that has said that there would not be more "informal" meetings to try to negotiate something.

I don't want to sound too positive about myself but isn't that what I have suggested in several of my articles on this website. Have some meetings together and try and work something out. Go and negotiate a transaction between the Government and the Bridge Company and this nonsense is over.  Is that what is really happening especially with the new Government being elected? The question after all is whether or not the Government has the power legally to take over the Ambassador Bridge. The answer may well be "No." And then what happens!

Take a look at this comment in the article:

"The owner of the Ambassador Bridge has fought the public bridge crossing proposal politically and legally since soon after formal discussions started 15 years ago. Moroun is in the process of seeking approval for a six-lane twinning of his own span between Windsor and Detroit, which opened in 1929."

I expect that the Government's attitude about the Moroun Family has changed drastically. After all, Matty Moroun is growing older yet he is still intimately involved in the process in this matter.  His son was expected to sell out very quickly once he got involved and took over. The comments I heard initially about him when I was reporting about this matter thought that he wasn't all that good in handling major matters. They expected that once his Father was not involved anymore that he would sell out quickly and cheaply. That didn't happen and his public side certainly changed significantly after his Father and Dan Stamper were jailed for one night in a Detroit lawsuit.  He certainly made it clear that he was not going to be pushed around in this matter.

Let me be direct. If the Bridge Company gets the approval which it is looking for in the six-lane twinning of the Bridge, then would a Government Bridge ever be built? Hardly. Two Ambassador Bridges would be more than able to look after all of the traffic in this area for a very long period of time with one bridge for trucks and the other for automobiles as an example. Or the New Bridge would be so much bigger that it could handle all of the traffic with the older Bridge around just in case of an emergency.

I was very interested in the Star article because of what it told me. I believe that there have been interesting discussions taking place since a new Government was elected in Canada. I have no idea at all how many have taken place nor do I know what the discussions have been all about but I was fascinated by Duncan's comments.

If a "many-year" dispute has to go on between the Bridge Company and the Government of Canada before any kind of a final resolution can be achieved, then it means that border crossing in this area which is so important can remain harmful. It means that Windsor business people can suffer because the border business could become even worse and that would be a negative impact on our economy which we just cannot afford any longer. For example, we saw recently that some businesses would be transferred into the United States from our region. Who wants more of that!

Clearly, the Duncan article has to be considered an "official" one giving us a message. I'm just hoping that the Duncan article was really telling us that a deal has to be negotiated between Canada and the Bridge Company. I'm hoping that there have been strong talks between the two to accomplish something that will be workable for both sides. I'm hoping as well that the Duncan article is just preparing us in providing us with reasons why this has to be done, why it has to be done as soon as possible and why the Bridge Company will still have to be involved.

I'm hoping, finally, that everything will be done very soon to get Windsor successful too as soon as  possible!