A veteran opinion page columnist across the Detroit River lobs shots at "our once-mighty next-door neighbour" in a column about disproportionate spending on a new Windsor-Detroit bridge.
This concept illustration of the New International Trade Crossing comes from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
"We're doing their job," writes Gord Henderson.
It strikes me as sad and embarrassing to see our once mighty next-door neighbour, last of the former big spenders, sit on its hands while Canada picks up most of the eye-popping tab for the new trade link between our partner nations.Thoughtful Americans are surely humiliated by the demeaning spectacle of America and Michigan riding free, counting on Canada’s chequebook to get this vital project built while they concern themselves with more urgent issues, like building a grand new home for the Red Wings. . . .
Canada, with fewer people than California and a devalued currency, is spending eight times as much, something like $2 billion, to build the international bridge, acquire properties in Detroit and pay for connecting roads
Henderson is particularly riled by what he sees as a wait "for a foot-dragging and seemingly disinterested Washington to commit $250 million to build a customs plaza in Detroit."
The Windsor columnist casts America as "a country that can’t or won’t pay its fair share of a new link on one of the world’s busiest trade corridors."
Earlier coverage at Deadline Detroit:
