The long-delayed project may look stalled to the casual eye, but Gary Doer has been hard at work south of the border, hammering out the details necessary for officials to announce an agreement.
“We’re working on all the elements of getting it done,” Doer told iPolitics.
The fine print includes what falls under Canada’s authority and what falls under Michigan’s; who gets the contracts and how they work; the permits required on the U.S. side to build an international crossing; and how the custom plazas and the tolls would work.
You never put your hands in the air until the puck’s in the net, Doer cautioned.
“Until you have a full agreement, you don’t have an agreement,” he said. “We still have a few more items to get resolved, but we’re working diligently to get it done.”
Doer is one of a number of high-level officials now striking a confident tone when it comes to finalizing a new public bridge at the busiest trade point between Canada and the United States. It would be constructed two miles downriver from the aging, privately-owned Ambassador Bridge.
Harper told a Washington audience on April 2 that, “We believe we’re making significant progress to realizing a new crossing. Hopefully before I leave office.”
Doer laughed that Harper had a “twinkle in his eye” when he used that time frame.
“I think it’s his way of saying, it’s been a long road. But he and the governor are absolutely committed to getting this done. I mean, they just are. And so they’re going to get it done.”
In Harper’s remarks, delivered during a question and answer period of a Woodrow Wilson Center talk, he also categorically ruled out a claim by Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun that he had the rights to build a second privately-owned bridge.
“It’s obviously a public space, and governments on both sides of the border have a right to make sure we have the ability of the growing cross border traffic to be accommodated within infrastructure, and I think the preference of all governments would be public infrastructure,” Harper said.
The missing ingredient in the bridge plan is the approval of the Michigan government. A state senate committee voted down the proposal in the fall, despite Governor Rick Snyder’s strong support for its construction. One route forward is for Snyder to act unilaterally, bypassing his fellow legislators, although a January poll showed that option was unpopular with voters.
If the deal is sealed in Michigan, Doer said he isn’t worried about who is in power in Washington in the fall. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed support for the development, which is touted as a potential boost for jobs, growth and trade.
“There’s no differences that we’re encountering here in Washington,” Doer said. “But part of that is everybody agrees the governor has to lead, and the governor, in my opinion, has led.”
Harper described Canada’s working relationship with Snyder as “very good,” and Doer agrees.
In addition to Michigan meetings, Doer has also been making the rounds with officials and media in neighbouring Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana about the bridge’s importance. His motivation to see the bridge through hasn’t wavered, even as Canadian politicians and economists increasingly talk about Asia as the focus of Canada’s trading future. Canada is still the biggest customer of U.S. goods, and vice versa, he said.
“Should you have more customers when you’re a trading nation? Yes. Should you increase your business with other customers? Yes. It’s not a subtraction, it’s an addition.”
The big public handshake could come as early as this year, but Doer gave no guarantees.
“There’s a few more items to resolve,” he said. “But there’s no issue of our resolve to get the bridge done. On both sides of the border, where we find an obstacle, we find a way to solve it – to bridge it.”
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Sonya Bell
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