WINDSOR, Ont. — Contrary to a published report, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon will not announce a public-private partnership to finance and build a new border crossing at the busy Windsor-Detroit Gateway on Monday.

The Vancouver Sun reported this past week it had obtained what it described as a final draft of a speech that the Minister is supposed to deliver this Monday Nov. 20th to the Canadian Council of Public-Private Partnerships.

The owners of the private Ambassador bridge would certainly
be leading contenders for a new public private crossing

In the speech, the newspaper reports, Cannon will announce plans to greenlight private sector involvement in the “design, financing, construction, and operation” of a new commercial artery and bridge crossing that links Hwy 401 with the U.S. interstate system across the Detroit River.

“I can tell you today, the Government of Canada intends to partner with the private sector for design, financing, construction, and operation of this crossing,” Cannon is expected to say, based on a draft speech and internal e-mails obtained by the Sun.

An industry source suggests, however, the report is out of context and the newspaper is quoting text that “is not accurate” with the speech Cannon is set to deliver Monday. Instead, the Minister simply plans to reinforce Ottawa’s commitment to public-private partnerships (P3s) in Canada, and could cite the Windsor Detroit project as a viable option for such financing agreements in the future.

Contacted by TodaysTrucking.com, Mark Butler of Transport Canada’s Windsor Gateway Project confirmed as much. He said the Minister is not ready to make a formal announcement on the funding and operation of a border solution.

“The Minister will be addressing P3s in his speech, because of the audience, and will talk about ways in which the Government of Canada has already expressed interest in P3s. But there will absolutely be no announcement regarding the Windsor-Detroit gateway and a P3,” he says.

“Certainly P3s are one of various solutions we’re looking at for financing of the new crossing, but no decisions have been made.”

If that’s the case, Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse suggests the government is now back-peddling.

“It’s a complete retreat if that’s what they’re saying,” he tells TodaysTrucking.com. “It looks like it’s damage control because it was clear as of last week that they were moving in this direction. In fact there was a big hoorah from the province of Ontario, which kind of substantiated the claim.”

Masse — a notorious critic of privatization as a solution to Windsor’s border woes — says Ottawa should reject a P3 plan. “I think what (Cannon) should do is clarify that we’re not going to use a public-private partnership on the most important border crossing in our country’s future.”

Since Sept. 11, the calls to increase capacity and add
redundancy at the Windsor-Detroit gateway have intensified

A vocal contingent of critics in the Windsor-Detroit region is watching the situation closely. Community groups and citizens on both sides of the border are concerned that private control of a new crossing will lead to limited public oversight of another vital trade link between Canada and the U.S.

Currently, the privately owned Ambassador Bridge (located about 3 km east of where the new bridge is proposed) is operated with a great deal of autonomy. Critics charge that the owners have final say on toll rates, security protocols, and bridge maintenance and repair.

While Ambassador owner and Detroit trucking mogul Matty Moroun has in the past objected to a new crossing built near his bridge, he reportedly owns large tracts of land on both sides of the border and rights to bridge piers in the area of the proposed new bridge.

Meanwhile, his Ambassador Bridge Company is forging ahead with its own plans to twin the Ambassador with another six-lane span.

One observer close to the situation says a P3 arrangement for a new crossing is probably inevitable, but hopes that before any deal is made, the Canadian government passes Bill C-3 — pending legislation giving the feds more powers over private bridges.

“A public-private deal must only exist within well defined legal structure,” he says. “The (Ambassador Bridge Co.’s) current attempt to twin the Ambassador completely outside the governmental review process shows the danger of giving a private company unregulated government authority.”

The bill — currently before the Senate — would provide Ottawa the authority to approve or veto the construction or alteration of international bridges and tunnels, and to “develop regulations pertaining to the governance, maintenance, safety, security and operation.” It would also permit the feds to rule on any sales or transfers affecting the ownership of international bridges and give the government power to take immediate control of a structure if a serious threat to the security or safety of the bridge was imminent.

“Bill C-3 will give the government appropriate oversight of all bridges, including privately owned bridges, which is essential for the security of Canadians,” says Butler. “The new bridge — whether or not the options might be in (P3) financing of the bridge — will have will have appropriate public oversight.”

Butler says the legislation could receive royal assent by the end of this year or early 2007.