GHY Tradelines

(Dave Battagello – Windsor Star)

The Canadian government has dedicated $25 million in its recent budget to start buying property in Delray [a neighborhood located on the southwest side of Detroit] for the new Detroit River bridge, while U.S. federal administrators debate the size and scope of the customs plaza, Canada’s Consul General Roy Norton said Wednesday.

The long-awaited downriver Detroit River International Crossing project is underway following Washington’s approval six weeks ago of a presidential permit, Norton told a gathering of the Michigan District Council of the Urban Land Institute who were in Windsor for a tour of the new $1.4-billion Herb Gray Parkway.

“They (U.S. officials) are getting their ducks in a row on what they need for a customs plaza — and that correlates on how much they are willing to spend,” he said. “Some feel they need the earth, moon and stars and others are saying that costs more than they are willing to pay. We expect within months that will be sorted out.” Read more here.
 

(CBSA)

As a result of overland flooding in the United States and the closure of North Dakota Highway 18, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has temporarily closed the Gretna border crossing (Highway 30) to all Canada-bound traffic.

Travellers and commercial traffic seeking entry into Canada should consider the following alternate crossings:

• Emerson Highway 75/Pembina US-I29 (24 hours)
• Tolstoi Highway 59/Lancaster US-59 (08:00 to 22:00 hours)
• Winkler Highway 32/Walhalla US-32 (08:00 to 22:00 hours)

CBSA management is working closely with emergency officials to ensure minimal traffic disruption during this time. The CBSA continues to closely monitor the flow of traffic at the border and will act quickly to minimize delays at our ports of entry.

To ensure their safety, travellers and commercial traffic are advised to verify their travel plans prior to departure.

Manitoba’s Flood Information | Border Information Service line: 1-800-461-9999

In North Dakota click here.

The CBSA apologizes for any inconvenience and will advise when the Gretna border crossing resumes normal operations.
 

(CBSA)

Spring brings increased numbers of travellers crossing the border. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is committed to providing the best possible service, which includes reducing wait times by helping you know what to expect when you arrive at the Canadian border. Read more about required documentation, applicable personal exemption limits, etc. here.
 

(Niagara News Now)

The Niagara Falls Bridge Commission has announced upcoming summer construction activity that will result in a series of lane closures within the Queenston Plaza of the Queenston-Lewiston bridge.

Such closures will commence in early May and conclude in late August.

Motorists and commercial carriers are asked to take note of these scheduled closure dates (available below), which are now available online at www.niagarafallsbridges.com. Read more here.
 

(Randy Boswell – Postmedia News)

Three U.S. lawmakers have launched a bid to scrap the “dysfunctional” binational agency that has overseen operation of the Peace Bridge between Ontario and New York for nearly a century, part of the escalating fallout from a dispute over planned improvements to the U.S. approach to the crossing that has pitted Canadian board members against their American counterparts.

The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority — commonly known as the Peace Bridge Authority — and the key international link it has administered since 1923 have been hailed as symbols of the enduring friendship between the U.S. and Canada after the War of 1812, the key battles of which were fought near the present site of the Niagara River bridge that connects Fort Erie, Ont., and Buffalo, N.Y Read more here.
 

(The Canadian Press)

A U.S. congressman says Canadians should not be overly concerned about a proposed border crossing fee, saying it just isn’t going to happen.

Democratic representative Brian Higgins, who is from the border city of Buffalo, N.Y., told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday that he has a lot of allies in the U.S. Congress who will stop any legislation that includes a fee.

Higgins, who is a member of the Homeland security committee, has been a vocal critic of a proposed feasibility study on a border fee since it was spotted last week buried deep in the department’s 2014 budget. New York Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, has also spoken out in opposition. Read more here.
 

(Jerry Zremski – Buffalo News)

The federal government is considering imposing a fee on passenger vehicles and pedestrians crossing the Canadian and Mexican borders.

The Department of Homeland Security suggested studying the imposition of such a fee in its fiscal 2014 budget proposal, which was released last week. But the idea attracted little notice until Thursday, when Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, lashed out at the idea as a potential killer of cross-border business.

“At a time when we are looking to increase economic activity at our northern border, we should not be authoring proposals that would do the reverse,” Higgins said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Read more here.
 

(Imperial Valley News)

USC announced the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) completed a study that estimates the impacts of wait times at major ports of entry on the U.S. economy due to changes in customs and border officers staffing.

The study concludes adding 33 customs and border protection officers (1 at each of the selected 33 land and airport locations studied) will potentially lead to an increase in GDP of $61.8 million and employment gains of 1,053 jobs in the U.S.

“We estimate that every additional officer, if placed at ports of entry with high traffic volume would, on average, lead to 33 additional jobs being stimulated indirectly in the U.S. economy,” said Adam Rose, principal investigator of the study and Professor of Public Policy at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. He also noted this outcome is not a standard “multiplier,” which pertains to ordinary economic activity, but instead refers to the gains from alleviating potential bottlenecks at peak times. Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

The Obama administration issued April 12 a presidential permit for the construction, connection, operation and maintenance of a second bridge between the U.S. and Canada in the Detroit area. The State Department said this permit “contributes to ensuring that our border infrastructure supports increased competitiveness, job creation and broad-based prosperity” and that the planned bridge “will help to meet future capacity requirements in a critical travel corridor” and “promote cross-border trade and commerce.”

The so-called New International Trade Crossing is expected to be built about two miles south of the 84-year-old Ambassador Bridge, which is the busiest border crossing in North America and carries about 25% of all goods shipped between the U.S. and Canada each year. Businesses have complained for years of congestion and backups at this bridge that result in delayed deliveries and production slowdowns. They worry that the problem will continue to worsen, with the 2.7 million trucks currently crossing the bridge each year likely to double by 2035. A second bridge, with updated customs facilities and improved connections to highways, is expected to make transportation easier and thus aid automakers and other industries with production facilities on both sides of the border.

Press sources report that construction of the bridge is not likely to begin until 2015 and could be completed by 2020 unless delayed by legal disputes already filed by the owner of the Ambassador Bridge.
 

(Todd Spangler – Detroit Free Press)

The owner of the Ambassador Bridge has filed a lawsuit against a number of federal officials – the U.S. secretaries of state, transportation and homeland security among them – and the Canadian government as the company tries to block the building of a rival Detroit River bridge, and force approval for its own second span to Windsor.

The new complaint, now quietly winding its way through federal court in Washington, D.C., was filed in February but was dated Nov. 9, just three days after last year’s referendum in which Michigan voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have required a statewide and local vote before the state spent any money on a new international bridge or tunnel to Canada.

In the lawsuit, the Detroit International Bridge Co., the family business controlled by Manuel (Matty) Moroun that owns the 84-year-old Ambassador Bridge, claims a “perpetual and exclusive franchise right” to operate the crossing free of competition from another span. It says the proposed New International Trade Crossing would “destroy” the value of its franchise, and argues that the process by which the State Department would approve a deal between Michigan and Canada to build the rival bridge is unconstitutional. Read more here.
 

(Government of Canada)

The Harper government has announced funding to improve infrastructure at various border crossings. This announcement follows through on commitments in the Beyond the Border Action Plan announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama in December 2011.

Improvements will be made at:

• North Portal
• Emerson
• Lacolle
• Lansdowne
 

(Seaway News)

Canada Border Services Agency has a long-term plan to set up a permanent port of entry that will serve Cornwall in the United States – the problem is, no one knows when that will take place.

Representatives of the border agency were before city council Monday night, where they explained that negotiations with their counterparts in the U.S. about creating a permanent home are ongoing. But when pressed by some councillors for a timeline to complete the negotiations under the so-called “Beyond the Borders” plan, CBSA officials could offer nothing concrete. Read more here.
 

(Nextgov.com)

The Obama administration has green-lighted the first-ever unstaffed computerized Southwest border station in a bid to improve U.S.-Mexico cultural relations. The new station is slated to open Jan. 28 in Texas at Big BendNational Park.

The Homeland Security Department, National Park Service and White House agreed to loosen post-Sept. 11 security measures so pedestrians at the park can cross the Rio GrandeRiver, which forms part of the international boundary line, to eat and shop in Boquillas, Mexico. Out of precaution in 2002, U.S. officials closed the original crossing station, requiring visitors to travel more than 100 miles for another border station.

But now, computers at the new $3.7 million self-service stop will scan citizenship documents embedded with computer chips and facilitate live interviews through video and audio links to a staffed station in El Paso. Read more here.
 

(AP)

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration says steel from both the U.S. and Canada may be used in the construction of a Canadian-financed bridge planned for between Detroit and Windsor, Ont.

The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press report a waiver on a policy requiring that only U.S. steel be used went into effect this week. Read more here.
 

(Barbara Simpson — QMI Agency)

Canadian border officers at two busy international bridges in southern Ontario were back on the job Thursday after a two-day protest against a new rule that requires them to wear name tags.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada ruled in several cases that name tags don’t put the border officers’ safety at risk. More rulings are expected.

Border officers walked off the job Tuesday night at the the BlueWaterBridge in Sarnia and the AmbassadorBridge in Windsor, leaving managers to deal with big lineups.

Despite the rulings, the Canada Border Services Agency has been ordered to perform a risk assessment on the new protocol, according to Jason McMichael, first national vice-president of the Customs and Immigration Union. Read more here.
 

(CBC News)

Border agents at the Emerson crossing in Manitoba are refusing to work today over a mandatory name-tag policy that came into effect this week.

The Canada Border Services Agency is warning motorists to expect delays and lineups at the Emerson crossing on Thursday, due to “work refusals by several officers at this port of entry.”

The CBSA said the disruptions are because the unionized border officers are refusing to wear name tags — a new policy that went into effect on Tuesday.

Manitoba becomes the second province to see job action as a result of the policy. Read more here.
 

(Christ Thompson — Windsor Star)

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says the Detroit River International Crossing is being “fast-tracked” on his side of the border and a presidential permit for the project should be coming in two to three months.

“It’s moving along very quickly compared to the usual process for a presidential permit,” Snyder said after a meeting Monday with Premier Dalton McGuinty at Queen’s Park.

“It’s being fast-tracked and I hope to get that done in the next two or three months.”

Snyder said the process is moving forward for an exemption from Buy America provisions as well, as is the approval process for the U.S. Coast Guard. Read more here.
 

(John Spears — Toronto Star)

Take it from a U.S. governor who honeymooned in Ontario’s Huron County: Michigan’s Rick Snyder is all about building bridges between the U.S. and Canada.

Snyder made a quick trip to Toronto Monday to whip up enthusiasm for the new bridge linking Windsor and Detroit, which overcame a political hurdle in Michigan on U.S. election day.

He message was one of undisguised boosterism.

“I’m quite confident that this new bridge crossing will be the largest, busiest freight crossing between our two countries, potentially for the next hundred years,” Snyder told the Canadian Council of Public-Private Partnerships. Read more here.
 

(Windsor Star)

Canadian Trucking Alliance CEO David Bradley pushed for expedited construction of the planned $1-billion government-backed bridge and better streamlining of the customs clearance process at the Canada-U.S. border during a hearing this week on the federal government’s omnibus bill.

The sweeping legislation currently being debated in Ottawa by legislators includes the Bridge to Strengthen Trade Act which would exempt the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge from certain environmental approvals and speed the start of construction.

“Construction will still need to abide by environmental laws,” said Bradley to the Star on Friday. “The project has already been through a major environmental assessment. I believe we need to expedite this and reduce the opportunity for lawsuits to slow it down.

“We think it’s a very important infrastructure project that has been delayed for too long.” Read more here.
 

(AP)

Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun has been jailed, paid thousands of dollars in court fines related to a Detroit freeway project and spent millions more to push a public referendum aimed at stopping a competing bridge.

Moroun failed to sway enough voters to back a ballot proposal this week that would have given Michigan residents say-so on whether state funds can be used to build new international border crossings.

But history has shown the oft-reclusive billionaire rarely backs down — even if the opponents are Michigan’s top-elected official and the Canadian government.

“I think he’s going to keep trying to fight,” said Colby Spencer, a senior analyst with the East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group.

Moroun is opposed to a government-planned bridge linking southwest Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. The new bridge would pose the stiffest competition to his Ambassador Bridge and potentially cost his empire billions of dollars in toll revenue.

Following Tuesday’s defeat of Proposal 6, Gov. Rick Snyder and various Canadian elected leaders said they will move forward with construction of the $3.5 billion New International Trade Crossing bridge. Read more here.