The owners of the Ambassador Bridge are suing Canada via NAFTA
under the Chapter 11 investor-state arbitration process.
They've upped their demand to $3.5 billion dollars.
Why are they suing? To prevent Canada from loaning Michigan $550 million which would eventually be repaid by tolls from the MI side of the bridge.
The public bridge proposal is for a joint project by the governments of Ontario and MI. Matty Moroun, owner of the private Ambassador Bridge doesn't like it. He claims that the project is illegal under NAFTA rules.
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However, as we discussed earlier, the public crossing would create competition for the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge, which also connects Detroit to Windsor and generates an estimated $60 million in annual toll revenues.
Bridge owner Matty Moroun has been pursuing approval for a second span of his own, but as Granholm said this morning, "Canada only supports the Detroit River International Crossing" and believes the proposed location of the second Ambassador span would be "too disruptive in Windsor."
In a statement released earlier today, Detroit International Bridge Co. attorney Patrick Moran explained the company will file a NAFTA claim against the Canadian government, suggesting the publicly-backed bridge would unfairly punish the private company.
“The Canadian government is using its power inappropriately to coerce the Michigan Legislature into adopting legislation necessary to ensure the implementation of the DRIC project to the detriment of necessary infrastructure projects in Canada and the U.S. ,” Moran said. “Not only is it clear that the DRIC project is not needed at this time, the Canadian government is trying to use its authority to steal a viable for-profit business from an American businessman.”
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http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/04/ambassador_bridge_company_file.html
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/05/24/morouns-lawyers-pursue-billions-in-damages-from-canadian-government/
Oh, guess who one of those on the Tribunal is? Michael Chertoff
= new reply since forum marked as read
