Ottawa’s $550-million loan offer for new bridge launches war of words in Michigan

[Oregone]

U.S. transport tycoon who owns Ambassador Bridge in Windsor says Canada is taking advantage of cash-strapped Michigan

Ottawa wants to lend $550-million (U.S.) to Michigan as the Canadian government seeks support for building a new bridge along the continent’s busiest commercial corridor, offering to help bail out a state ravaged by the auto sector’s slump.

Federal Transport Minister John Baird said Thursday that Ottawa is extending a lifeline to Michigan to jump-start the $5.3-billion megaproject called the Detroit River International Crossing, or DRIC.

But Patrick Moran, corporate counsel for Manuel (Matty) Moroun, the 82-year-old transport tycoon who owns the Ambassador Bridge that spans the Detroit River, said Canada is taking advantage of cash-strapped Michigan’s dire financial straits.

“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,” Mr. Moran said in an interview. “Michigan is hard up for cash.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/ottawas-550-million-loan-offer-for-new-bridge-launches-war-of-words-in-michigan/article1551117/

[Ikonoklast]

1. Matty Maroun has fought against progress for years.

He bought up all the real estate, and politicians on both sides of the river in Detroit so he would have no competition for the Ambassador Bridge, a major choke point in the Can-Am border crossing.


Maroun is only trying to keep his private monopoly over a governmental function.


Keep the Ambassador for non-commercial traffic, but trucks absolutely need another way into and out of Canada.