U.S. group against Canadian offer to help pay for new Windsor-Detroit bridge

People who travel between Windsor and Detroit are used to being stuck in traffic and Ottawa wants to help.

The Canadian government offered a loan to help pay for the bridge, but not everyone in Michigan wants to accept the money.

A group called Americans for Prosperity-Michigan has launched a campaign to stop the bridge because it believes Michiganders would end up having to pay the Canadian government instead of a private company to build it.

It organized a rally today on the steps of the Michigan state capital that included more than 500 Tea Party followers to denounce high taxes, big government and the proposed bridge.

The $550-million loan was offered by Ottawa to Michigan a year ago to jump start the building of the $5.3-billion megaproject and help a state hit hard by the auto sector slump.

Federal Minster of Transport John Baird said at the time Canada would recoup the loan by collecting a portion of the tolls.

AFP-Michigan is targeting lawmakers who have not taken a stand on the issue and launched a radio and mail campaign, according to the Detroit Free Press.

However, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley tells the Detroit Free Press the claim is "a completely false statement." He said, "They haven't seen the legislation, and yet they are proclaiming all these statements about it."

That is why the administration of Michigan's governor is now circulating a draft bill that would prevent taxpayers from paying any part of the proposed bridge to connect Windsor and Detroit.

It would prohibit state money from being used to repay Canada and prevent government from taxing the bridge or its revenues.

Yet AFP-Michigan still believes taxpayers would be forced to subsidize the bridge if tolls are inadequate.

The plan is for Canada and Michigan to create separate bridge authorities and seek a private builder to design, finance and operate it. The builder would be responsible for paying for the bridge.

It would be built southwest of the current Ambassador Bridge and would alleviate much of the traffic that currently travels that route.

Thousands of commercial trucks and about 9,000 cars get clogged every day on Windsor streets and on the current Ambassador Bridge, responsible for transporting about one-quarter of the trade between Canada and the U.S.. amounting to $150 billion a year.

The Ambassador Bridge is owned by 82-year-old transport tycoon Manuel Moroun, who took full control in 1979 after buying out Warren Buffett's 25 per cent interest and other smaller stakes.

AFP-Michigan would not say if Mouron is underwriting their group, but he is fighting to stop the public bridge.

"Our state doesn't have two nickels to rub together and we have crumbling roads all over, and yet our state is getting involved in building a new bridge," Moroun said to the Globe and Mail last April. "Michigan is hard up for cash."

He fears Ottawa will favour Canadians over Michiganders for jobs and has offered to pay for the span himself. He thinks the new bridge will cut deeply into his bridge's traffic and hired Fox News commentator Dick Morris to campaign against it.

But Baird, who called this, "The most important infrastructure project in our country" is hoping for the Michigan legislature to approve the funding so construction can start as soon as possible.

(CP Photo)