A Windsor city councillor is calling today’s Gordie Howe International Bridge announcement unfortunate.
Speaking on AM800’s The Kyle Horner Show, Ward 1 Councillor Fred Francis says he just wants to see the bridge open.
The foot of the bridge sits in Francis’ ward, and he doesn’t believe the community should accept the fact that the bridge is being used as a negotiating chip with the United States.
He says the community should say, “This bridge is ready to be open; open it.”
“I think the most important thing right now is just to open the bridge, let the vehicles cross, and let’s go about our business,” he says.
Francis says he was planning to attend Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“As it relates to the ribbon cutting, I was going to go to that; all of city council was invited to that,” says Francis. “I’m assuming all of Detroit City Council would have been invited to that too, so we registered; we were planning on going tomorrow, so it’s unfortunate.”
He says he wants to see the bridge open.
“I was of the mindset to just open the bridge, and if you want to do a ceremony after the fact, do a ceremony after the fact, and if the Americans want to shut down an opened operating bridge after it’s been opened, fine, let them do that,” he says. “I think that’s much harder to do.”
Francis says getting the bridge open is more important than a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Don’t worry about the politicians’ egos; don’t worry about the ribbon cutting and the dignitaries and all that. Keep the focus where it should be: on the community and the people that built the bridge, all the tradespeople that built the bridge, and all the people in the community over the last 26-30 years that have gotten us to this point, and just open the bridge, and then everything will come after that,” says Francis.
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority issued a release Thursday morning, saying, “Canada and the United States have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues.”
The statement from the authority does not specifically mention what those outstanding issues are.
The $6.4 billion span was paid in full by Canada, and those costs are meant to be recovered through bridge tolls that will be shared with Michigan once it’s fully paid for.