DETROIT — The Ambassador Bridge Company wasted no time in calling out the Harper government’s move to bypass environmental assessments, normally required for bridge building projects, as “anti-democratic” and “anti-American.”

Back in June, Prime Minister Harper signed a deal with Michigan to build a second crossing, with Canada footing Michigan’s side of the bill.

And they’d like it built quickly.

Introduced as part of the Conservatives omnibus bill, tabled last week in the House of Commons, “The Bridge to Strengthen Trade Act,” if passed, will see the building of the bridge skipping assessments under the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Species at Risk Act, and parts of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

According to the Globe and Mail, the Tories said that the companies building the bridge will comply with all federal laws pertaining to environmental protection. The Canadian government, along with Ontario and the United States, already did an extensive environmental assessment, the feds said.

The move by the Harper government is being seen as a way to insulate the project from any potential lawsuits from the Ambassador Bridge Co., which wants to build its own bridge.

Earlier this year, the bridge company put together a petition, collecting a reported 600,000 signatures, with the goal of seeing the issue on the ballot this November. While The Board of State Canvassers decided that it should not be put to a vote, the Michigan Supreme Court trumped that decision. Michigan will now vote on the issue in November.

“Governor Snyder is trying to sell Michigan voters a government bridge we don’t need and can’t afford,” said Ambassador Bridge President Dan Stamper in a statement today. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so scared of letting the people have a vote on the new bridge.”

Stamper said the Governor “threw American workers under the bus when he gave into Canada’s demand for a Buy America waiver and signed a deal that gives Canada control over most of the jobs and all of the revenue associated with the bridge for the foreseeable future. And now he’s turning a blind eye as Canada attempts to jam through anti-democratic legislation to make the entire project above the law, all in an effort to block an American company from building a new bridge.”

Stamper said that it’s time for politicians to stop standing in the way of a new bridge. “When they do, the Ambassador Bridge [will be] ready and willing to invest in a state-of-the-art border crossing at no cost to taxpayers on either side of the border.”