A former Windsor-area member of parliament says Ottawa bears some responsibility for threats from U.S. President Donald Trump toward the Gordie Howe International Bridge, arguing delays pushed the project into another Trump presidency.
Brian Masse, the former Windsor West MP for more than two decades, believes it was “only a matter of time” before Trump put the bridge in his crosshairs.
Trump threatened to “not allow” the border crossing to open in a social media post issued on Monday.
He has insisted that the bridge will only open if the U.S. is “fully compensated for everything” the United States has given Canada.
“Doesn’t surprise me that we’ve come to this. I’ve been warning about this for a while,” Masse said in an interview on Monday evening.
Masse, who has advocated for a second bridge crossing in Windsor since 1998, said Canada stopped short of the necessary steps to avoid vulnerabilities.
Specifically, he took aim at the decision to use a public-private partnership (P3), a factor he believes contributed to the project being delayed multiple times.
“We did nothing to press the P3 about that. In fact, we didn’t even follow up and get proper reparations for them being late, so they still are supposed to actually have delivered a bridge on time,” Masse said.
“Had we actually got it completed on time, we wouldn’t even be in this situation.”
Ground was broken on the bridge project in 2018, with an expectation it would open in November 2024.
The opening was pushed back to fall 2025 and delayed again in early 2026.
CTV News reached out to the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority for comment on Trump’s social media post but did not receive a statement before publication.
The bridge authority website says major construction of the bridge is complete and the project team has ramped up work on the testing and commissioning phase. The WDBA says this work takes place before the bridge and ports of entry open to traffic and focuses on preparing the crossing for safe, secure and reliable operations.
In response to the president’s threat, Masse wants to see “immediate reparations” for Windsor due to the delay in finishing the bridge.
In opening a new crossing, the Gordie Howe International Bridge is intended to put less commercial border traffic on Windsor streets.
Masse has called on provincial and federal officials to work with their U.S. counterparts to ensure there’s a strong response to Trump.
“All that stress, all that environmental, all that different, business loss that we have is all delayed because the next chapter of the city of Windsor cannot take place until this is finished,” Masse said.
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With files from AM800’s Dustin Coffman
