Carney said that his initial comments about debt repayment being included in the deal were meant to be a reference to the original agreement with Michigan, even though he referenced the 15-year timeline of the U.S. deal and the repayment of the debt under the Michigan agreement is estimated to take 50 years. “There is no splitting of tolls under that [Michigan] agreement which I was referring to, perhaps imperfectly,” the prime minister said. Carney added that the cost of the new deal is “less than five per cent in present value of the overall cost of developing the bridge”. With a $6.4-billion price tag, that means the cost would be a maximum of $320 million over 15 years, or about $21 million per year, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed.
Conservative MP Kelly McCauley, chair of the government operations committee, said in a social media post that he is convening a meeting to launch an “urgent investigation into the details of the Gordie Howe bridge deal and the misinformation provided to Canadians about it”. Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer said the prime minister should be “embarrassed” by the deal with the U.S.. The controversy has created political headaches for the prime minister, who has faced questions about the transparency of the deal and the accuracy of his public statements.
The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit, Michigan, has been a long-awaited infrastructure project. The bridge was originally announced years ago but faced numerous delays. The deal to open the bridge has been a source of political tension, with the opposition accusing the government of making concessions to the United States that are not in Canada’s best interests. The prime minister has defended the deal as being in Canada’s interest, but the controversy over his comments has provided ammunition for his political opponents.
