Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens is continuing his fight with the federal government to get the city reimbursed for 2022 blockade costs.
Speaking from Ottawa, Dilkens told AM800's The Morning Drive, he is meeting with Dominic LeBlanc, the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs today to try and find a resolution with the unpaid Freedom Convoy costs.
"This isn't $1000 we're talking about, it's $1-million and associated with $1-million is what I consider to be the disrespect of not paying that amount on behalf of a community like Windsor that worked so hard to solve a national issue," says Dilkens.
In February 2022, hundreds of people protested against various rules and mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic and blocked a section of Huron Church Road leading to the Ambassador Bridge.
The city spent just under $7-million to address the situation, but the federal government has only covered $6.1 million.
Dilkens along with members of council and Windsor West MP Brian Masse have been calling on the federal government to cover the remaining balance of nearly $1-million and the city announced it ended the 2023 fiscal year with an overall operating deficit of $2,490,154, which includes $900,491 in unrecovered convoy costs.
Dilkens says without hesitation, the city stepped up to assist with the blockade.
"We just acted because we had to, because there was a national security issue, there was certainly a provincial issue with respect to trade, obviously that respected us locally and then to have the federal government with hold $1-million in payment, I think it's just so disrespectful," says Dilkens.
He says the city just wants to move forward without having this amount outstanding.
"You saw it over time in the last 60 days show up on a variance report at the city budget which means the taxpayers have now paid for that $1-million and I want my money back," he says.
In December 2022, former Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino came to Windsor and announced the federal government would provide up to $6.9 million to cover the City of Windsor's costs associated with managing and ending the blockade.
Since that time, the federal government has said it will not cover certain legal costs associated with the blockade.
Earlier this week, Brian Masse launched a petition calling on the federal government to reimburse the city for all costs associated with the blockade.
He plans to present his petition in the House of Commons.