You-Know-Who and Gordie Howe International Bridge

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump endorsed a new bridge between Windsor, Ontario (Canada) and Detroit, Michigan (US) in 2017, the first year of his first term in office.   The purpose of the new bridge was to alleviate the congested traffic on the existing Ambassador Bridge which currently connects the two cities across the Detroit River.  The existing Ambassador Bridge is currently the biggest international truck crossing between the US and Canada, and approximately 10,000 vehicles a day transport around 80,000 people across the border using that bridge, primarily to get to and from work.  Having a reliable way to get across the river is an important economic factor for both countries.

The new bridge, which has been named the "Gordie Howe Bridge" in honor of the hockey star, a Canadian who played for the Detroit Redwings for 25 years, is now nearly finished.  It was conceived in Canada through a partnership with the US state of Michigan.  Michigan was to have borne half of the cost, but a subsequent Michigan legislature decided not to pay for its half of the project.  The Canadians continued with the construction with the understanding that they would recoup the more than $6 billion in costs through tolls, and when that debt was paid, Michigan, would once again be a full partner.

A large quantity of US planning, steel, cement, and labor have gone into the project.

It was a workable solution until Donald Trump, vintage 2026, got involved and began demanding a share of the bridge for the United States.  Trump has stirred animosities with Canada since he began his second term in office last year by imposing tariffs on Canadian imports to the US and making off-the-wall suggestions that the United States should own Canada and give them representation in Congress equivalent to that of one US state.  The government of Canada is understandably not eager to hand over a major portion of their new bridge to someone many view as tempestuous and erratic.

The family which owns the existing bridge has made contributions to several Michigan and US Republican politicians, including Trump, and they have remained politically active in trying to stop the new  bridge's construction.    Then, enter Trump as the bridge is almost complete, barking demands and stirring the political pot.

Trump reneged on his initial support of the very expensive project, and now that it is nearly complete, he wants to move in and claim half of it, even though half will belong to Michigan as soon as the construction costs have been recouped.  He clearly is not a man of his word, and his greed-based actions reflect badly on him and on the country he leads.  Trump speaks for the United States, and if he is deemed by the world to be unsteady and unreliable, the rest of our country will be viewed through that same lens.

Probably the most expedient way out of the mess that Trump is manufacturing would be to name the new bridge the "Donald J. Trump and Gordie Howe International Bridge," with Trump's name being first, and then the government of Canada purchasing a significant amount of crypto from the Trump family business.

Canada, that is a serious recommendation.

(You can pull his name off the bridge the day he leaves office, there are plenty of people on this side of the border who will help, but you will probably have to eat the crypto.)