The on again, off again Gordie Howe Bridge saga appears to be on again — for now — with an official opening set for July 27.
This comes after President Donald Trump said he negotiated a better deal from Canada on bridge tolls.
The new Detroit-Windsor crossing is expected to significantly ease congestion at the nearby Ambassador Bridge, speeding up and streamlining cross-border trade. But an opening and ribbon cutting ceremony had been cancelled after Trump accused Canada of treating the U.S. unfairly on trade.
In a Truth Social post over the weekend, Trump took credit for, what he described as, a much better deal for America.
Ottawa acknowledged a new agreement on revenue sharing had been reached. A government source said 50% of the toll profits will go to Canada in the first 15 years while the other half will go into an economic development fund.
Prime minister Mark Carney still calls it a good deal for Canada because the word "net" does a lot of heavy lifting in the deal.
"We are sharing after Canada is paid back," Carney said. "So we get the revenues, then the servicing of the costs of the bridge and paying the debt of the bridge. What’s left over there’s a split of that for 15 years, and the U.S. money is invested back in economic development in the region, the U.S. side of the region obviously, which is going to help drive more traffic."
The deal has led to some criticism in Canada as being another concession to the Trump administration amid trade tensions that have lasted for about a year and a half.
Canada paid for the entire construction costs of the bridge — about $6.4 billion. Recovering that money is expected to take at least 50 years.
