Wonderful Action Taken

I may as well be clear about it. I believe that a lot of people in my area were suffering a major problem in their homes recently, as we were in our house, but that we all knew very little about it. By that I mean, what caused the problem in the first place, how serious was it, whom would you call to fix it, when would they come and how much was it going to cost!

What happened that I experienced was that, over about a week and a half recently, electrical power in my house turned off and then almost immediately turned back on again. This happened on different days during that time period, just once per day however, at different times from very early in the morning to late in the afternoon. There seemed to be very little timing consistency other than the first two day failures when the power went off and on between 6:30 and 7 AM.

I decided that I was going to get involved in this matter as a resident impacted by it right away to help get it fixed up. One of the reasons for doing this was my fear that the problem that we had might be a very serious one and that we could lose our power for a very long period of time when the coming temperatures for the next several days were to be very high in the mid-90°F range. That temperature was expected towards this weekend.

If you remember, dear reader, the area where I lived in Tecumseh, and perhaps in other areas, some time ago had a massive electrical issue that required major work to correct the problem. I remember the experience I had in it when the electrical firm suggested early on not to worry about it because it was probably the animals that were fooling around with the wires that caused the breakdown for a short period time. Of course, that was not true and eventually the decision was made to replace parts and fix up the system to prevent the outages.

My thought was that the problem that we were having now was very simple. It was the same as before! All that I had to do was call the power company because they had the ability to fix it right away because they had the experience in doing so.

I am not going to get into a major conversation about it but naturally when I first called up I did not speak to an employee but to an outside operator. She took my message about the problem and suggested what was first offered last time. She suggested the same cause of the problem as before ie. small little animals.

I told her in a very nice way that she was completely wrong and that I needed to speak to someone in the company as quickly as possible. Just to let you know, the company that I had to approach first was Essex Powerlines Corporation. It was one that I knew very little about and in fact was not aware they were involved at all in the previous difficult situation.

I spoke early on with Joe Barile, General Manager, Essex Powerlines Corporation. He was a very senior member of that organization.  Our conversations went very well. There was no difficulty for me in handling the situation with him. He was well aware that it was my view that his Company had the legal obligation to handle the situation as quickly as possible.

Here's where some surprising information came in. He told me early on that his firm really had no big role in this matter. Oh sure, they sent out the bill to receive payment and if there were some issues, his company was supposed to be called to handle them. However the reality was that Hydro Inc. was the company that I should be calling because of their role in supplying the power to my family!

I told him that I believed that. I told him in fact that I had called Hydro One before speaking with him and they tried to tell me that they had no reason for speaking with me but rather that I should call his company to handle the matter. I quickly told the person I spoke with on the telephone to transfer me right away to someone upwards in their organization. When she did, I spoke with one of their managers and told her quite directly they knew that they had the obligation to fix things up and I expected them to do so by working with Essex Powerlines immediately. Fortunately, that lady told me that she would look into the matter and handle it right away.

Another party, the third one, got involved after I contacted them as well: the Town of Tecumseh. The people who got involved and made me very pleased about how active they were in trying to get this matter resolved quickly as well were: Mayor Gary McNamara, Deputy Mayor Joe Bachetti and my Councillor in Ward 2, Bill Altenhof. I knew that there was considerable discussion between them and the power firms to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible. In fact, on last Tuesday night, I was told that a Motion might be introduced at a City Council meeting demanding that the Electrical utilities fix up the problem as quickly as possible. As you will see that was not required to be done after all!

Obviously, I was not involved in all the actions among the three parties. I knew they were talking to each other but did not know what they were saying nor who was to do what nor when something positive was supposed to happen.

I arranged for a meeting with Joe Barile on the following Tuesday. It was going to be the time when we were to have a frank conversation about the issue and who was going to do what and when. He knew that I was going to be very direct with him and let him know that I thought that his firm was directly responsible for correcting the mess. After all, we as Tecumseh residents dealt with his firm.

Tuesday came. Our conversation started off very well as I told him what my thoughts were on the subject and what I thought his Company's responsibility for solving the problems for the customers was all about. Surprisingly, he really did not give me an answer to what I said. Rather he told me something completely and totally unexpected. The problem had been solved!

Through some terrific work done by the employees at Hydro One, they discovered not only what the problem was but fixed it. In other words, by the time that he arrived at my house to speak with me, the problem had been resolved!

Of course both of us discussed what would happen if the repair did not work and both agreed that care should be taken in making sure that nothing went wrong. So far, and fingers crossed, everything has turned out perfectly.

I think I could go into more detail but I do not think it is necessary. All what you, dear reader, should understand from what I have been writing is that the parties involved all worked extremely hard in trying to find a solution to the situation as quickly as possible for the aid of the Tecumseh residents. They did so amazingly well and very quickly!

I believe that we as residents of Tecumseh were treated properly and we should appreciate what these parties did for us.

To conclude, here is a note that Joe Barile wrote. Please take a look at it. I agree with what was said:

“Essex Powerlines is aware of numerous momentary faults (auto reclosers) which have affected and inconvenienced customers over the past week in the Town of Tecumseh. Essex Powerlines, with the assistance of Hydro One, believes that the likely root cause of the momentary outages has been determined and mitigation efforts were immediately undertaken in order to resolved the same. Essex Powerlines thanks Hydro One for taking steps to address this issue within their service territory in a prompt and efficient manner and we are also appreciative our customers patience and understanding while attempts were being made to resolve this issue.”

HOT!!!

Weather predictions from 2 websites this morning for the next few days

What Month Is This

I am confused. There is no doubt about it.

The weather since the autumn of last year has been very bizarre. I am sure that you remember how long autumn stretched itself out. It seemed that the leaves from the trees never fell off until much later than normal. Naturally, I expected winter to last a much longer time because it started so late. Well, that has not happened. With the 30° plus temperatures these past few days, we seem to have been granted a much earlier summer with hardly any spring. I just don't get it.

Now don't get angry! I know that I am not supposed to write very much about weather conditions anymore and I am not going to do so. I remember that I used to talk too much internally at home about what was happening outside from a weather perspective. My poor family had to listen so often to what I was saying.

No, I thought recently about why I say so much about weather conditions. I never wanted to be a weatherman. I never took any courses when I was in school about the subject. I never really met anyone made who made weather the subject of our friendship. I must admit that I could not figure out an answer. However, I am pretty sure that my interest in the weather has certainly grown quite a bit over the past few years since I have been recovering from my illness.

I was thinking about it and figured out why I was focusing so much of my brainpower on the subject. In reality, it was a very novel subject for me. Just consider that I hardly ever had the time to think about the weather for so many years. I hardly had any free time at all when I could consider the subject.

After all, when I was in university and in law school, I spent a lot of time studying especially for exams. When working as a lawyer for private law firm, and I was single as well, the number of hours per day and the number of days per week spent handling client issues were quite substantial. Even after I was married and worked as a corporate lawyer, I spent long hours every day at work and even some time on weekends. As you will also recall, my last years working as a corporate lawyer was fully occupied by years of litigation work traveling back and forth overseas. Sure, I started working for myself but even doing that meant that I still worked for many hours during the day. Would you believe that, as Editor of the newsletter for which I worked, I started right after breakfast and worked until very late at night almost every day.

I feel almost that I am a child now being exposed to this new topic. Seriously, you may not believe it, so many times that I have gone out for a walk I just stop and look at the blue sky. I just cannot believe the most wonderful colour that I can see especially when there are no clouds in the sky at all and it is solid blue. Moreover, watching the clouds, especially the dark gray ones before possible storms moving so quickly, just fascinates me.

I am intrigued just as much in the wintertime when it snows, especially when it snows heavily, and I see a truck and snowplow coming out to clear out my street and driveway at the Condo where I am now living. Of course, I like it better when the temperature warms up so that I can walk around because it seems so springlike. And then it turns freezing out and the snow starts falling.

Seriously, do you appreciate seeing the trees gaining leaves in the spring as they come back to life and then losing them in the fall. It is absolutely amazing watching it happen.

Enough about this. No more writing on the subject or else I might have someone in my family come and talk to me about this kind of writing. Instead, here is a story that interests me as a retired lawyer and about which which I hope you will enjoy reading.

WHAT WILL THE JUDGES SAY NOW

Remember what happened when the Ambassador Bridge Company won the lawsuit against owners of property who had homes in the area where a new bridge is supposed to be built.

The loser in a case is generally required to pay the legal costs of the winning side in the amount set out according to the Rules of Court. However, the Judge in this case did not award any costs against the losing individuals:

"Sandwich Town residents will not have to pay legal fees to the Canadian Transit Company, which owns the Ambassador Bridge.

A judge has ruled the company will not get the $1 million it requested after winning a court case against the homeowners last month.” (CBCNews, April 19, 2018) 

That's the end of everything right? Of course not. The losing side is now appealing the decision!

I will let you, dear reader, check into this matter to see why it is being appealed. What is more interesting to me however is how nice the lawyer for the losing plaintiffs was with respect to the Bridge Company when he made this comment:

"Following Carey’s decision, the bridge company sought a court order for $1 million in legal cost compensation from the residents, but the judge rejected that claim.

Lawyers for the bridge company did not appeal that decision and Strosberg expressed his gratitude on behalf of the residents.

“I was very pleased that (the bridge company) did the right thing and did not seek leave to appeal the cost decision,” he said. “That was the right thing to do and we appreciate that.” (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, May 25, 2018) 

Gee, does he really expect that the Bridge Company will not appeal the decision of the trial court judge that they should not receive any costs. I would be surprised if they don't appeal that matter.

What if the Bridge Company wins on appeal? Does anyone expect that the Appeal Court will not award any costs this time around and will not also award costs for the trial level if the Company appeals that? I don't.

America First

America First now?  Hardly! Is this new matter ever so ridiculous to me.

Here is what was written so recently with which many will agree:

“Some of us have held out hope that the Moroun family might be taking a more civic-minded, less-obstructionist stance on matters of public concern — rejoining the community after decades of hunkering down to protect their own narrow interests...

But the scurrilous ad that the Moroun-owned Ambassador Bridge company has created in a final effort to block the new Gordie Howe International Bridge project blows out of the water the idea of a “new” Moroun approach. The ad demonstrates that the Morouns remain dedicated to their own narrow interests regardless of the impact on the broader community.” (John Gallagher, Detroit Free Press, June 21, 2018) 

In all of the years that I have written about this subject, I have never seen the Ambassador Bridge Company act in such a dumb fashion as they did recently. I have seen worse situations in the past in which the Bridge Company has been involved in being attacked by opponents in a foolish way and have never seen them responding back in such a strange way. Yet, they did well because the public understood how badly the opposition acted and opposed them strongly while giving support to the Bridge Company. This time around, the Bridge Company made a fool of itself. It will have a difficult time now with their silliness. They are going to have to work extra hard to get people back to support them.

They produced their "Dear Mr. President" advertising video and then made the decision to distribute it through the public in a TV ad even though it may be to a small part of the US population. Or, is this something brilliant that was done to achieve a deal in a transaction that is being negotiated right now.

What a strange thing to happen. I just do not understand it. It is only a short time after doing a magnificent transaction with Ford who is to take over the Michigan Central Station. Most people are applauding that transaction because it can change the appearance of Detroit wonderfully.

However, it now seems that the Bridge Company is proposing one of the most ridiculous actions that anyone could think possible in a relationship between Canada and United States. I am not going to outline it. Rather, go and take a look at video yourself since you can find it online and you will see what foolishness it is. I just wonder who at the Bridge Company made the final decision to make that video and, more importantly, who made the final decision to actually run this one publicly.

Let me outline what I think the two possibilities may be these days that can explain why the advertisement was created:

1) There is a deal that is close to finalization between the Bridge Company and the Canadian Government for the complete sale of the Ambassador Bridge site to the Government. However, the parties still cannot negotiate a final price for this deal. Or alternatively, the negotiated amount has been resolved but the price is so high that someone has to come up with a way to justify it.

2) Nothing is happening and the Bridge Company is looking for a way to wake up the Government of Canada to do some kind of a deal finally! That deal could be anything from allowing the Bridge Company to do everything by itself, to giving the Governments of Canada and the United States a small interest in the Bridge Company by contributing some money to help build a new crossing or even having the Governments buy them out completely.

Now I could go through a long explanation of both of these two points and tell you which one I think is the correct one. But frankly, I just cannot be bothered! I have no intention of wasting any more of my time on this matter because of this ridiculous advertisement.

Whatever the relationship is between these two organizations is so absurd to me especially because the public is harmed so badly by their inability to get a resolution quickly. The whole purpose of what is going on now is to put pressure on the public to force a resolution on the two parties to achieve some solution now.

Do you understand what I mean? We have to get outraged to force the parties to sit down together finally and either finalize the transaction that may have almost been agreed to or get one now because they are unable to do so or may even be unwilling to do so.

A farce!

Summer Will Be Here Soon

Oh My Goodness! I know that today is not the first day of summer.  It is tomorrow.  However,  I had a real physical problem that came on very quickly and that caused me a great deal of concern. To be honest, given what I had experienced medically before, this kind of situation scared me a lot.

I could not figure out at first what the cause of the problem was. All that I knew was that I was in pain and did not know what to do about it. I was not sure if I had to go to the doctor right away to see what my issue was.

As I am sure that you will understand, dear reader, I do a lot of exercising every day to help me out with my medical issues that I experienced in the past.. Oh, it is not something that one has to be so physical about but it works out to 1 to 2 hours per day of getting my muscles into as good as shape as I possibly can. I have to admit that, when I first start a new exercise practice, I do feel the pain. However, after a few days of repeating the exercise, I feel much better.

The problem that I had here was that I really was not doing anything new. Accordingly, I could not understand why my legs hurt so badly. Then, it hit me. It was my fault that caused the pain in my legs!

What does that mean you might be thinking? It truly was my lack of my usual type of exercising and keeping up with my normal schedule that caused the misery that I was experiencing. For the few days before the pain arose, I had stopped doing a large part of my usual exercises. I was not stopping exercising at all, or so I thought. I just spent a lot of time doing what I thought were other appropriate matters. As an example, I was walking around my area much longer than I did before because the weather felt good and therefore was building up my physique.

It finally hit me that my failure to continue my usual practices hurt my body and caused the pain that I was experiencing. I immediately started doing again my "old" exercises and, lo and behold, my pain disappeared within a very short timeframe!

There you have it, dear reader. I don't know if what I'm telling it is right not or not but that has happened to me. I am sure that there is a reason for what I went through and maybe what I have just told you is that reason.

I have to admit that I do not know the answer. All I know is that my pain has disappeared and I am feeling back to normal once again. Accordingly, I can now write more stories, dear reader.

WINDSOR UNEMPLOYMENT

I am starting to worry a little bit.

For the past while, our unemployment rate numbers dropped quite a bit. It appeared that things were starting to get really positive here with jobs available for so many people. Our numbers kept going lower and lower every month.

However, things started changing recently. The unemployment rate for the past few months started getting a small bit higher. Not a huge amount for the increase but one that was getting a little bit bigger when one examined the monthly report.

Here is the story for last month's increase:

“Windsor’s Jobless Rate Jumps In May

The unemployment rate in Windsor went up in May.

The latest employment figures from Statistics Canada were released Friday morning. The jobless rate for Windsor-Essex in May was at 5.9%, up from 5.5% in April.

This also marks an increase from May 2017, when the jobless rate was at 5%.” (Mark Brown, Blackburn News, June 8, 2018) 

Should one be concerned about the rate increase? Well, I am not sure about that answer yet. It is not all that large a rate increase. In addition, here is one explanation for it:

"More people looking for work put upward pressure on the unemployment rate. It was to be expected with all the college and university graduates now looking for work…

“Overall, the numbers are healthy,” Falconer said. “There are still strong and consistent job postings.” (Dave Waddell, Windsor  Star, June 8, 2018)

Let's just hope that the number of people unemployed will not keep on increasing and that there will be jobs available. However, I am getting nervous about what we may see as time goes on.

SELLING MY HOUSE NOW

Why not? House prices seem to be doing quite well these days. Wouldn't making a nice profit make one rather happy!

I have to admit that I am pleased that my wife and I were able to buy a new home for us several years ago. As you will recall, we purchased that home after I returned from the hospital with my horrific disease. We needed a new place to live because our home was just too large for us and because our kids had moved out. That is why we moved to Tecumseh.

I have to admit that our move was great for us. We were able to get a pretty good price for our Windsor home that we were able to sell quickly. In addition, we bought our new Tecumseh home at a very attractive price as well.

Just so you know, and as I am sure you have experienced, dear reader, I have seen increases in my house value in the past but then it has crashed also for all kinds of reasons subsequently as well. I just hope that doesn't happen once again for my house value since I have already seen something like that happen now in a couple of other real estate markets in other Canadian cities.

What interests me is what is happening with pricing in our area. It seems to have gone up a fair bit for our houses. That's great for me because it means more profit. However, it's not so great for me if I was looking to buy another place. I might have to pay more than I expected for the new one. Just as an example, I have seen the price of a much smaller two-bedroom near where I live at a substantially higher cost than my unit. What is interesting, and what may provide for the excuse of such a much higher price, is the fact that it is a new unit. Yet, how can this happen? The market does not seem all that active these days. Rather than prices falling, they still seem to be doing very well going up:

"The trend of fewer sales but better prices applies to reselling homes, as well as new construction.

Bob Peters, a Windsor real estate agent the last 33 years, says area properties remain attractive.

“Housing sales are down but prices are up,” Peters said. “But there just aren’t enough properties on the market.

“It’s a crazy market. It’s a fantastic market to sell a home. It’s a very hard market to buy a home.” (Craig Pearson, Windsor Star, June 8, 2018) 

Back to what I said at the beginning, I could sell my house today and make a profit. However, can you imagine what the cost would be for me to buy another one? I would think that the price for that house would be much higher than expected and I would have to compete with a whole bunch of other people to buy it in the first place.

If that is true, I think I am just going to stay with my unit now for quite a number of more years.

My Newest BLOG

Everything has changed dramatically for me when I started writing another Blog. It obviously had to do with the big deal that took place in Detroit which I think will lead, hopefully soon, to a settlement of the border issue. Unless our Liberal Government has destroyed our relationship with the US!

I am trying to write the best that I can once more. I have to admit that I am really trying hard to think about what I should say when the temperature is going so high again. I probably should have a nice cool drink made, with lots of ice of course, and have it while I am dictating. That would make my task so much easier to do. Of course, that is not going to happen. I would be too concerned about spilling it all over my computer!

I have started writing this BLOG on a day when the temperature outside is going up to the high-20s° and is expected to go even higher on the weekend, 33°. Moreover, the humidity makes it seem even warmer than that. Oh yes, I do have an air-conditioning system in the condo unit but I have to admit that I rarely turn it on. It just seems that much cooler inside.

When my wife and I first moved down here about three years ago, I think we only turned on the A/C system a few times even though it was quite warm. That seems to have been the model we have followed subsequently and one we may follow again this year.

However, last year, I believe I turned on the system a little bit earlier and ran it on more days than before. Who knows, I might be following that model again soon if the temperatures stay so warm. I am surprised that the weather has gotten so hot so early on because I expected it to take a lot of time to do it this summer because winter started so late last year. I can remember that it seemed like an eternity before the leaves fell down from the trees last year and we had our first snow storm.

Accordingly, I expected that the warmth would not hit here until much later than now. Well, Mother Nature has her own plans which she is now following.

Whew, writing this introduction is quite difficult when it is this warm at this time of the year. I think that I had better stop dictating for now and just relax a bit. That cup of something cold just seems to make a lot more sense at this time.

There, I am finished relaxing. Now it is time for me to write some stories.

MOROUN ASSET SOLD

Obviously, the biggest story for me at this time is that the Morouns have sold one of their big assets, the Michigan Central Station, to someone else. I even predicted that this would happen in my May 31 article “IS THE MOROUN ASSET REALLY SOLD NOW.”

Duh, of course that deal was done then! I pat myself on the back for not being afraid to predict it and say it.

It’s too bad that we do not know how much money was paid. I would guess that it was a lot considering how long the Ambassador Bridge Company owned the property and how much money they put into it recently to fix it up. However, I also do not think that the amount was outrageous either or Ford would not have bought it. I also believe that the Bridge Company still owns some land nearby so its value will increase dramatically especially if it is sold or subsequently is developed.

In other words, there are some interesting subjects that have to be dealt with later.

In my view, the Morouns will have gained a lot of respectability now. It demonstrates that they are clearly capable of doing significant and important business these days involving major players. It also shows that they are prepared to stand up for themselves too and to fight for what they want.

Something will happen soon with respect to the second Ambassador Bridge I am sure. What it is and when we will just have to wait and see.

WORLD CUP COMING HERE

Should anyone really wonder whether there is a real dispute between Canada, the United States and Mexico over NAFTA? Of course there probably is not one at all. It has to be nothing more than a big publicity campaign that has been run by the Governments of each of the countries to help themselves out locally.

Seriously, dear reader, how could anyone think otherwise after reading this story that has just been posted recently:

“World Cup 2026: United States, Canada and Mexico Win Bid to Be Host

A combined bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada won the hosting rights for soccer’s 2026 World Cup on Wednesday, bringing the tournament to North America for the first time since the 1994 event on a pledge of record crowds, record revenues and, perhaps crucially, a record $11 billion in profits for FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.

It will be the first time the World Cup is hosted by three countries” (Tariq Panja and Andrew Das, New York Times, June 13, 2018) 

What I saw reported as well was:

"It was sold in countless other cities — Jakarta and Bangkok, Copenhagen and Lisbon, Jidda and Johannesburg — by officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada soccer federations who had teamed up in an unprecedented effort to share the world’s most-watched sporting event.”

I just cannot take seriously any longer the so-called disagreement among the three countries over the trade issues. They have done a very nice job competing among themselves supposedly to keep their voters onside. One should expect an agreement coming soon since it will certainly help them in elections coming up shortly in each jurisdiction.

DID YOU VOTE

I cannot believe how few the number votes were in our area. Here is what I saw:

“Windsor ridings boast lowest voter turnout in Ontario

Of 124 ridings in the June 7 voting, Windsor-West and Windsor-Tecumseh had the distinction of having the two worst voter turnout rates, according to Elections Ontario. Not only that, but those two local ridings are among only four ridings where more than half the eligible voters didn’t even bother to cast ballots.

Windsor-Tecumseh, where the NDP’s Percy Hatfield repeated as winner, had the second-worst voter turnout in Ontario at 48.2 per cent. In Windsor West, where the NDP’s Lisa Gretzky also won reelection, the turnout was even lower at 43.8 per cent…

the provincial voter turnout was 58 per cent, a nearly 20-year high and a big jump from 51 per cent in 2014.” (Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star, June 10, 2018)

However, I believe I understand the reason why this happened. People in each riding expected these candidates to win and saw no reason to go out either to vote for them to make sure that they won or to vote against them to ensure that they lost. 

Of course the voting results here hurt this area because the Government is not an NDP one. Accordingly we can only be hopeful that the winning PC candidate in Chatham-Kent—Leamington, Rick Nicholls, will help us out if required.

Will The Ambasador Bridge Be Next

It was very interesting what happened at the 9 AM news conference today held by Matthew Moroun. As you will see, there is much more involved than one might think.

There were three alternatives that were likely:

     1) No transaction whatsoever

     2) A partnership between the Moroun Family and another party

     3) A sale of the entire Moroun interest.

We know now what the answer is. Matthew Moroun told us:

"The deal is complete. The future of the Depot is assured. The next steward of the building is the right one for its future. The Depot will become a shiny symbol of Detroit's progress and its success.

The Ford Motor Company's Blue Oval will adorn the building.

I thank Bill Ford and Ford Motor for their vision and commitment to this building."

The speech was relatively short but it was very important in understanding what is going on not just at this project but at other projects in which the Moroun Family is involved.

If one listened closely to what Matthew said, one learned a lot about how to deal with them. More importantly, one learned how poorly the Governments have done in negotiating with them with respect to Ambassador Bridge. How can a deal with the Ford Company be completed in such a short time while the Governments have still not yet negotiated anything final with the Bridge Company in over a decade! Here is what I mean:

"On October 13, 2017 a meeting was arranged by a friend that connected me to the grand development I was looking for."

Hold on, you might be thinking. The deal took about eight months to negotiate. How could it have been so "friendly?" Here is what was said about the timeframe:

"The Depot's revitalization would only be part of enormous plan taking in much more than Depot itself. The developer had to be the owner and the user.

I would characterize the negotiations as respectful and they were not protracted in any way. The due diligence of checking out the bones of the building and formulating plans took the vast majority of the time."

What is very interesting is that the Bridge Company has owned this unit since 1992. That is quite a long length of time. Moreover, it was hardly a great project when they took over ownership:

"Although my father and I believed in this building and Detroit, many others did not. The New York Times labeled its iconic façade as an example of how far the city had fallen...

My father and I were quite alone, left only with a positive long term vision that no one else could see."

Gee, that sounds a lot like the way that the Morouns have handled the Ambassador Bridge since they have taken it over! Do you really believe, dear reader, what the Governments are saying about how they want to build a new bridge several miles downriver when the reality is they should be building a second bridge right beside the existing Ambassador Bridge. Is it really only the Morouns who have the "positive long term vision?"

Tell me, to which Moroun ownership business does this comment apply? Clearly, it is not only the Depot:

"My father and I were quite alone, left only with a positive long term vision that no one else could see. Certainly we had made acquisitions in the past that at first looked rough and later blossomed.

However, this one was different. Our critics were not just throwing words but rocks.

We held strong over many years."

Matthew made a relatively short speech. However, when one listens to what he said, one understands that there is a lot more stated about another major project about which the Governments ought to start thinking. The Governments need to start dealing properly with the Ambassador Bridge Company right now. Otherwise, their relationship will go on for a very long time and will involve lawsuits in both countries.