To Be Pitied

I really cannot be angry anymore with Mayor Eddie Francis. The real emotion that I should feel for him is one of pity.

He has become a tragic and pathetic figure who has failed at just about everything that he has tried as Mayor of the City, except of course in his own mind.

He would be the flawed character in a stage play. He would be the one that did not understand that he is the one who has failed because of his fear of performing. It is almost as if he is paralyzed, incapable of executing a transaction for fear that it might go wrong.

After all, isn’t the local joke that the only way that we will get a new border crossing is if Mayor McNamara of Tecumseh threatens to put one in. Isn’t that how Windsor got its new arena when Project Ice Track moved to that town!

The story in the Star “Francis says files confirm Moroun wanted tunnel” did make me angry when I first read it online late Thursday night. However, on Friday morning, when I reread it in the published Star I felt sad for a person whom I supported because I believed that he showed so much promise. I was very wrong.

What is so pitiful is that Eddie does not yet understand that he does not have to be perfect in order to succeed. A superstar in baseball only has to hit .350 to receive a salary in the mega-millions. How many times have the best hitters struck out compared with the number of home runs that they hit?

To me what was obvious in reading the story was that Eddie is totally focused on defeating Matty Moroun. Whether it is due to the City ownership of the Tunnel I do not know. Blocking the Bridge Company with bylaws or Heritage plans or Community Improvement Plans or interfering in a Tunnel deal… it does not matter. Whatever it is that Moroun wants to do, Francis must stop it.

There seems to be an air of vindictiveness in the relationship between our Mayor and the Owner of the Bridge Company. Consider this comment, one of the most disgusting comments that a Mayor could make about a business person:

• “Fearing that billionaire Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun was poised to gain a stranglehold on Windsor's two border crossings, the City of Windsor has entered into a US$75-million agreement with Detroit to take full control of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel…
  
  "If someone acquired the other half they could fill it up with cement and our investment would be lost," Francis said. "It's in the best interests of our citizens to protect this asset and ensure control of the tunnel remains in the hands of the public."

What an insult. What a childish, immature and stupid statement. What businessperson would waste millions to do that? Only in Eddie's fertile mind! Moroun has done more for the region and the border crossing than Francis will ever be able to achieve.

The Star story is typical of Francis. And we have seen it time and time again. Find a scapegoat for his failures. Find someone to blame. Point the finger at someone else, not at our Mayor especially when over $1.2M has been wasted on legal and consulting fees with no result.

Just watch at Council… the Points of Clarification, the trigger-happy finger on the Councillor microphone kill switch and the attack on delegations such as the pesky environmentalist. It is just so pitiful.

Eddie Francis knows it all. He must have seen the entries personally in the Detroit Mayor’s schedule. How else would he know what is in there. Interestingly, here is what the Detroit News said happened in 2006 and 2007, not what Eddie claimed:

• “They met 11 times in 2006 and 2007, while the Grosse Pointe Shores industrialist's company was negotiating with the city to buy land for an expanded Cobo Center and for the base of the bridge.”

I did not see anything about the Tunnel there. I am certain that the News would have mentioned it because it is such a high profile issue. They did make specific mention of what meetings were about with respect to other people.

Can you believe that Moroun might have something that he wants to do in Detroit other than what interests Eddie. He does have many business interests after all. Did he require Eddie's permission before he could speak to his City's Mayor?

In fact, Moroun’s attempt to operate the Tunnel ended effectively in late 2005:

• “A $30-million US takeover of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel Moroun has been pulled off the table by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, according to an official in the mayor's office.
  
  "Our mayor being a team player has listened to what Mayor (Eddie) Francis and others have said," said Anthony Adams, deputy mayor of Detroit, Friday.
  
  "(Francis) had some valid points about public control and so we will revisit our approach and see what's best to maintain the interests of both sides."

This was after:

• “Transport Canada raised objections in December, while former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan wrote a letter expressing her concerns. Other federal officials also met with City of Detroit officials.”

In fact, in the summer of 2006, after Detroit Council finally killed the deal, Eddie was so certain about his position that he could say:

• “Mayor Eddie Francis said he is confident the "lines of communication" with Kilpatrick and Detroit's council are strong enough that Windsor will be notified of any developments that would be detrimental to it.
  
  "I'm not worried at this point," Francis said. "We have developed a good working relationship on this issue with Detroit and hope to continue to have those discussions."

Does Eddie believe that he is the centre of the universe and that the planets revolve around him? It seems that he cannot comprehend that the two of them might have talked about something other than what interested Eddie. What about this, could this be what some of their discussions were about as Dan Stamper claimed:

• "Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick thanked Moroun for several recent projects, including the Port of Detroit deal and the creation of an industrial park near I-94 and Mt. Elliott. The combined projects will create several hundred jobs in the city.
  
  "I want to thank Matty for what he's been able to do in the city," Kilpatrick said. "That is an absolutely incredible undertaking, and he deserves applause."

It is such a shame that the News did not support what Eddie is saying. Then again let’s blame them for that omission.

I cannot believe this comment made by Francis to justify what he is saying:

• “Francis said he is not as concerned with the possibility that the two were talking about the bridge's twin-span proposal, since Detroit doesn't have much influence over whether the proposal ever becomes reality. A presidential permit is required in the U.S., while federal cabinet approval is needed in Canada before Moroun can proceed.”

How pathetic! What world is Francis living in? It is the new bridge that is important to Mr. Moroun, not Eddie’s Tunnel. It is Eddie that is fixated on doing a deal for US $75 million of taxpayer money to get an interest in the Tunnel not the Owner of the Bridge Company who only offered a fraction of that price.

Eddie clearly does not understand the politics of elections of Democrats thanks to Detroit voters. He certainly did not understand Detroit Mayoral politics. A presidential permit is not needed by the Bridge Company as stated by the Department of State in the United States and it is not clear at all whether Moroun needs any permissions from the Canadian Government to move forward according to what Dan Stamper said recently.

If Eddie is wrong on such simple things and such factual things, then it is very troubling that he is in charge of a major file with so much money at stake.

It seems to me that Eddie was talking about himself when he described Detroit’s influence. One only needs to read the Senate Transcript to see how Eddie was dismissed out of hand by the Senators when he attended in Ottawa. Just about everything important that he wanted via Brian Masse in the International Bridges and Tunnels Act was not achieved.

Eddie is in serious trouble. During his watch, Windsor is collapsing around us. Obviously, he is not responsible for the economic meltdown nor the failure of the Big Three. But what has he done since he became Mayor with respect to economic development in particular that we should be hopeful about? Where are those 15,000 high-paying infrastructure and spinoff jobs that would have helped this community at the time of its greatest need?

His legacy will turn out to be the East End Arena that is turning into a $65 million and counting White Elephant before it is officially opened yet. It is his Cleary! He will be known as the Mayor who has held the record for in camera meetings and has ignored openness and transparency in Government.

What is also a shame is what Cliff Sutts had to say:

• “he is concerned after learning how often Kilpatrick and Moroun got together while he was negotiating with Kilpatrick's office or his appointed negotiators to secure a tunnel deal.”

Why? Even if they talked, so what? Was there not an agreement in place that prevented Detroit from doing a deal with any other party while the negotiations were under way? It was the Mayor and Mr. Sutts who were unable to negotiate a deal that was acceptable to both the Detroit Mayor and Detroit City Council. Are they going to blame the Bridge Company for that now too?

I would think that Mr. Sutts might want to be worried about the City of Windsor’s legal position if he could say this:

• “But if it gave (Moroun) an opportunity to affect the negotiations between Detroit and Windsor, we would be very concerned," Sutts said.”

He may want to consider whether Eddie’s interventions “affected negotiations” too to the Bridge Company’s detriment since I am concerned about the legal consequences of that action as a Windsor taxpayer!

Of course, since our Mayor feels so free to comment about the schedule and calendar of the former Detroit Mayor, the question needs to be asked who visits our Mayor, and why? I expect that our Mayor will make his schedule available for the public to see immediately so that we can understand with whom he is speaking so that we can make the kind of assessment that he has made in the Star.

It is a pity for Eddie and for Windsor. Eddie could have achieved so much if he had only learned how to deal with others. Instead, all he can do is rail and take out his frustrations. The best life lesson for Eddie would be to lose and to lose badly. It is pathetic that it would have to be this way.

By the way do you notice that it is always Eddie who is attacking, lashing out, calling names. For Moroun, who has all kinds of interests in Michigan and in Detroit, the image that comes to my mind is Francis as a gnat buzzing around his ear to annoy him. In the end, Eddie will be swatted but until then all that he can think of doing is to annoy someone who is a business success that he is not and that he can never hope to be. Perhaps this may help with Eddie

Border Crossings Chaos

Don't you find it so interesting that each of the major border crossing files is chaotic. Co-incidentally, in each case, as I have BLOGGED before, one of the key issues in each area is the destruction of massive amounts of property in the US for new government bridges and/or plazas but NOT in Canada. I cannot understand why the Americans are so accommodating.

Interestingly as well, the Fort Erie area was to be the test of shared border management where both US and Canada Customs inspections were to take place in Canada. Strange that this initiative died don't you think because of problems that do not seem to be that hard to solve.

I wonder if Canada all of a sudden had second thoughts when the Bridge Company proposed the following in 2005 or at least Canada had to pretend it did. You see, Canada is desperate to control the border crossings into the US to preserve our economic well-being in trade. It needs to control the corridors and gateways in case the US tries to become too protectionist, say under Obama as a possible anti-NAFTA President:

• "Oct. 20--The owner of the Ambassador Bridge is proposing a huge expansion of U.S. Customs inspection facilities, plus new retail stores and other development that could create up to 3,000 jobs, change the face of southwest Detroit and speed traffic across the bridge and through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
  
  "This is a big bet that Detroit's going to continue to be an international hub," said Dan Stamper, president of Ambassador Port and the Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns and operates the bridge. "Not everybody's rushing to Detroit to do things like this. This is good for the city, this is jobs...
  
  The opportunity to accelerate these efforts is triggered by proposed purchase of about 25 acres of city-owned land that will allow Ambassador Port to move existing Customs inspections booths from both sides of the Detroit River into a huge 200-acre site he called the International Center."

At the exact same time, here is what was taking place:

• "In December 2004, the United States and Canada announced that the two governments had agreed to move forward with a land preclearance pilot project at the Buffalo, New York-Fort Erie, Ontario Peace Bridge and at one other border crossing site along the northern border, which had not yet been determined…
  
  From 2005 to 2007, the United States and Canada were engaged in negotiations to implement land preclearance at the Buffalo-Fort Erie Peace Bridge ports of entry,"

Yet the Canadian Government in our area would balk at the Bridge Company's effort and would hypocritically act differently:

• "The Canadian government has threatened Detroit with legal action if it approves the Ambassador bridge's bid to take over the U.S. side of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel.
  
  Mark Butler, spokesman for Transport Canada, said the single inspection facility proposed by the bridge has raised fears over border security…"

You see, if Canada could have shared border management on its side in Fort Erie then they could hardly oppose what the Bridge Company wanted to do in Detroit. It would have killed the DRIC project too and Canada could not allow that. Now you see how the Bureaucrats' hatred for the Bridge Company is ruining our economy and that of Buffalo!

We know all about the mess in Windsor ad nauseum. I don't follow Sarnia/Port Huron or Fort Erie/Buffalo all that closely but I do get snippets of news from there on occasion.

How can files get so messed up for so long. And some people want Governments to have responsibility over new crossings. Oh my.

Here is an interesting quote out of the Port Huron Times Herald as an example about their problems, especially with costs and cost over-runs:

• "The early 1990s also saw MDOT begin planning for a second span at the Blue Water International Bridge.
  
  Groundbreaking for the 922-foot span took place in April 1995, two months before actual construction began on the Ontario side of the river.
  
  Work also was under way on an 18-acre U.S. Customs plaza. Tons of rock were trucked in to elevate the plaza 24 feet above Pine Grove Avenue. The plaza ultimately cost $52 million, or about $12 million more than original estimates. Another $4 million was spent in 1999 on additional improvements.
  
  The original bridge cost $4,069,150, according to historian Eric Poersch, or about $55 million in today's dollars. It was a bargain.
  
  Construction costs for the new span exceeded $80 million - $41.7 million billed to the United States and $38.1 million to Canada. MDOT also spent $30.3 million on land, design, engineering, environmental testing, insurance, community relations and other ancillary costs. Throw in $56 million spent on the plaza, and the American costs approached $125 million. Canada, which invested $7.5 million to improve its plaza, spent at least $50 million.
  
  Today, public comment is being sought on a draft environmental impact statement for a new U.S. inspection plaza and improvements to the expressway between the border and the junction of Interstates 69 and 94. The estimated cost is $433 million, a mind-boggling amount in a city where the value of all taxable property is about $800 million."

Here are excerpts from an interesting story out of Buffalo that was reported on 2 Buffalo TV stations but not in the main media outlet, the Buffalo News so far. I wonder why not.

Hmmmm, I wonder if the Windsor Star will report on this since they were so pleased to report on the Bridge Company's bad news down there recently. Of course, the General Manager of the Peace Bridge dismisses the story---he has to doesn't he. If it does have an impact, then the Bridge Company's proposal in that area looks much more attractive:

• "Roadblock in bridge expansion
  
  BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Another big hurdle for the Peace Bridge expansion project. Federal and state agencies are now siding with those who say the border crossing will create havoc in their neighborhood.
  
  Some people who live near the Peace Bridge are in the fight of their lives to save homes in their neighborhood, as the Public Bridge Authority looks to expand its plaza.
  
  Kathy Mecca lives near and said it will destroy the historic feel of the neighborhood. Some homes built as far back as 1865 would be demolished. Last week, some state and federal officials agreed with the opponents of the plan.
  
  "This is a victory for the community," said Mecca.
  
  In a letter to the Historic Preservation Office, Officials from the State DOT and the Federal Highway Administration propose a finding of adverse effect for the Expansion Project.
  
  In another letter, an official from the State Parks Department agrees. They feel the bridge expansion project would have a negative effect on the historic resources in the neighborhood.
  
  Mecca continues, "The ruling does not stop the project from going forward, but it does give everyone an opportunity to step back and take a deep breath, and be involved in an ongoing process of mitigation."
  
  Public Bridge Authority General Manager Ron Reinas said the ruling comes as no surprise, and is not uncommon when demolition is involved. He said it's just part of the process, and won't impact the project timeline."

The saga for another crossing in the Buffalo area has been going on for around 20 years. And is still going on with birds being the latest issue for them with bridge design.

And the picture at the top...it's the proposal of the Ambassador Niagara Signature Bridge Group. However, why take the Bridge Company proposals seriously. They do not seek to displace hundreds of homes and businesses in Delray as the DRIC project would do nor would their proposal result in

• "absolute destruction [of Columbus Park-Prospect Hill ... one of the great neighborhoods and distinctive places of New York State] by a massive new bridge project which can go elsewhere with much less destructive, and perhaps even positive, impact.”

Act III: Shakespearean Border Tragedy (Part I)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Imagine That

Unless you saw it for yourself, you just would not believe it. Here are some more interesting items for you to consider.

IS DON MCARTHUR LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB

Is one of the editorial writers at the Star looking to be fired? Is he daring them to try to get rid of him hoping for a big severance payment so that he can go out West and get a high paying job with one of the newspapers there?

That was my first reaction when I read his BLOG. Combine that with his story “Watchdog demands audit's release” and he might be attacked as a Naysayer, heaven forbid.

It would appear to me that Don has a few more than seven readers considering the number of people who contacted me asking if I had read his Windsor Star BLOG about the Mayor. You can read it at

http://communities.canada.com/windsorstar/blogs/lifeontour/default.aspx

The last reporters of the Star wrote BLOGs similar to that no longer do so. In fact if you go to the website where one of them used to be found you would read:

• “Not Found: Resource Not Found. The resource you requested does not exist.”

If you think I am brutal in my conversations about our Mayor, then read this

• "When Francis told you in his State of the City address that he wanted to "change the conversation," I didn't think he meant he was going to start swearing like a sailor. It is unbecoming of his office reflects poorly on the city. Could you imagine, say, Prime Minister Stephen Harper telling the nation during the recent leaders' debate that Canada was in "deep ***." Not even the opposition leaders, who were trying to stoke fear in a shameless bid for votes, resorted to the profanity of panic.
  
  The worst of it is that Francis doesn't know any more about the global financial crisis than you or any other person on the street. He doesn't have some red phone in his office connecting him to Wall Street or Bay Street. He reads the same stories in the same newspapers at the same time that you do. He's certainly not a financial analyst. Heck, he's hardly even a lawyer. He just plays one on TV.”

Some of my readers wondered whether or not this signalled that the Star was going to be changing its position with respect to the Mayor. I hardly think so.

As long as Eddie maintains his opposition to the Bridge Company, the Star will still support him.

Why then is McArthur doing what he is doing? I have no idea. It is too cynical even for me to suggest that he has been allowed to write this way just so that the Star can demonstrate that they are presenting an evenhanded approach to the Mayor if someone tried to criticize them. Seriously though, they can hardly make that argument when MacArthur only has "seven" readers. Mind you, the way things are going in Windsor, the Star may only have seven readers before long.

So let us take it for what it is. Another person in Windsor disappointed by our Mayor and letting the world know about it in the strongest possible terms. How many times have we seen that before?

Welcome to the phone booth, Don.

SCHWUNNELS AND ACCIDENTS

I have BLOGGED this before. And I will probably keep on doing it.

The real risk to a border crossing in Windsor is not an attack on the bridge but rather, if Greenlink is built, an attack on one of the kilometre long Schwunnels that Eddie wants built or probably on all of them at the same time.

A major accident in any one of the Schwunnels could disrupt trade between Canada and the United States for hours or days or more.

How can an accident happen? Who knows. They just do.

Here is one story from the Windsor Star that I saw recently:

• “The westbound Highway 401 was shut down for hours and traffic screeched to a halt Monday afternoon after one broken-down transport truck caused a chain reaction collision involving three other trucks.”
  
  During the Thanksgiving weekend, a truck
  
  “jumped a barrier and drove up an embankment at the side of the road.
  
  At one point, westbound traffic was backed up about 20 kilometres on Highway 401 while police tried to determined how to remove the truck.”

Here's another:

• "Crash, big rig fire block Calif. highway
  
  OAKLAND (AP) — Commuters who usually take Interstate 880 through Oakland should probably avoid the area after a crash involving a big rig and several cars.
  
  The California Highway Patrol says both sides of the freeway near downtown Oakland are blocked as flames from the big rig shoot into the air."

Can you imagine the disaster not only to people in the Schwunnel but also to those using the parkland innocently above it if there was an explosion!

I expect that the DRIC people will stand firm and not give in to the childishness of the Mayor on this particular issue.

INTERNATIONAL COMPACT ENTITY

That is something that the Peace Bridge calls themselves. Accordingly,

• "Ron Rienas, general manager of the Peace Bridge Authority, said Thursday that in certain private and confidential matters his organization also is exempt from the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and the Dominion of Canada Access to Information Act, a policy that has been endorsed by the New York State comptroller's office."

I wonder if our City Council should consider using this concept too. Well why bother, they can just say that they want several hundred thousand dollars to produce documents. It accomplishes the same thing.

BOREALIS INVESTMENTS

I read this comment on Marketwatch about the investments made by Borealis in infrastructure assets:

• “Borealis Infrastructure, a 10-year-old pioneer that has developed with other investors a portfolio of infrastructure assets with an enterprise value of over $25 billion, including a nuclear power plant, marine ports, a satellite company, oil and gas pipelines and health-care diagnostic services.”

Yes, yes, yes I noticed the omission of DRTP too. But just so that you do not think that Mr. Nobrega has forgotten about all the money that he has spent in Windsor, he does refer to joint ownership of the Detroit River Rail Tunnel in a Globe and Mail article.

ANOTHER OVERSEAS TRIP

It is really difficult being a member of the Windsor Essex Development Commission. All of that oversees travel can just be so tiring.

I saw in the latest WEDC newsletter that the Chair, Remo Mancini and Tracy Pringle will be going to Germany to attend the International Suppliers Fair in Wolfsburg. I hope they find some time to meet the onion importers too to solidify the relationship.

Darn, they just missed out on Oktoberfest. Oh well, they can always visit Autostadt instead. The town has a very interesting history that you can read about here http://www.wolfsburg-marketing.de/en/23.html

How many trips is this that WEDC members have taken overseas so far? Thank goodness the Credit Union and the area Councils can afford all of this. Perhaps they might take a lesson from the Finance Minister and reduce this kind of travel until some results are actually achieved. Toronto is much closer if they want to take a trip. Wasn't that where this area held its big soiree to bring Golden Horseshoe money here.

If Sandra can help out Fort Erie to try to get a NASCAR track when she visited Dubai, then Remo should ask her to help out Windsor when she goes overseas again.

Helping Out Ontario's Minister Of Finance

Take that Gord Henderson. If you don’t think that Spanky takes care of his good friend and colleague Sandra then you are sadly mistaken.

Gord had the nerve in one of his columns to suggest that Sandra’s role in the Provincial Government wasn’t important and that she had been moved out of a position of power.

Wow, was he ever wrong! He owes her a huge apology and freedom from columnist attacks until the new year.

She is after all the Mighty MITI Minister whose function it will be to save the Ontario economy.

Think I am joking? To let everybody know about it, and clearly the Premier had to give his seal of approval as well, the following statement was made in the materials distributed by the Ministry of Finance after Dwight's Fall Economic Statement. In the section dealing with “Forming key partnerships,” Sandra’s important role was spelled out for everyone to read:

• “A new Minister of International Trade and Investment will work on promoting Ontario to the world and attracting new investment and trade opportunities.”

Grammatically, it probably should have been written "the" rather than "a" but that is a quibble.

Sandra ought to thank Dwight for that mention except for one thing. Dwight is smart enough to make sure that he remains Numero Uno in Windsor. Unfortunately for Sandra, while she has the job to promote our Province around the world, Dwight has made it a bit more difficult for her to succeed. If Sandra does travel, it looks like she will have to go by herself. Moreover, just like her friend Remo, she may not have any brochures to hand out to prospective investors in the Province.

As part of his cost-cutting, the areas where spending will be reduced include “Reducing government staff travel costs” and “Reducing government printing, photocopying and fax costs.” At least she can still use the telephone or perhaps Dwight wants her to use SKYPE via the Internet since its long-distance rates are very low and she can even have a video camera attached so that investors can see her.

To be serious, one area where I think the Minister of Finances was absolutely wrong in cutting costs was with respect to “Delaying the addition of 50 Family Health Teams by one year” to save $3 million. While that sum is a lot of money to you and me, dear reader, in the scheme of things in the Ontario Budget, it is nothing. The health of thousands of Ontario residents who do not have a family doctor should not be put at risk to save such a small amount of money. As a person who uses the Windsor Health Team, I know its value.

I do not know why the Minister did not phone me for assistance in advance. I would have been able to have helped him solve the financial problems of the Province simply. He would not have had to have whined and cried and begged the Federal Government to send him money nor would he have had to have eaten into the Province’s reserves to keep the deficit under $1 billion.

He could have achieved a terrific result and no one in this City as an example would have attacked him at all. He had the perfect person whom he could have blamed. We would have known immediately if during his speech he said “THE MAYOR IS WRONG. THE MAYOR IS WRONG.” We would have known exactly what he meant and would have said that if our Mayor had acted in the past while money was available we would not have had a problem at all.

The Minister did say that infrastructure money would be used to help create jobs. However, he was not very specific about what he was going to do. He did say that the Province would continue investing in infrastructure. He talked about:

 “The Investing in Ontario Act, 2008 (IOA) will provide $1.1 billion to Ontario municipalities this year to improve roads and bridges, expand public transit and build other municipal projects throughout the province
 The IOA investment is expected to create 11,000 full-time jobs during the construction period and will make Ontario’s economy more competitive in the long term
 ReNew Ontario’s five-year, $30 billion infrastructure investment is building new roads, schools, hospitals, bridges and transit across Ontario
 Today, more than 100 major construction projects have been initiated as a result of ReNew Ontario
 We have invested a total of $9.9 billion in infrastructure in 2007-08, creating 109,000 full-time equivalent jobs during the construction phase of the projects.

Now that is pretty impressive I must say.

If you look at the Statement made by the Minister, the Province is short about $1 billion. If the Minister had asked me what to do, I would have said to give Windsor the “cheap solution” and not the DRIC road IE the at grade solution from Highway 401 to the Ambassador Bridge. Call it an interim solution so that the Border Infrastructure Fund monies can be used and the Feds would have to contribute 50% of the amount. People would still have high-paying infrastructure jobs but we would not be wasting money. Heck he could upgrade E C Row for a paltry few hundred million dollars more.

The perfect out for the Minister is the economic difficulties that we are having that have resulted in a drastic fall in truck traffic from what DRIC projected. Moreover, the Minister need only refer to his American colleague, the Director of MDOT, who said that we may not need a new bridge until perhaps 2035.

In the circumstances, why spend $1.6 billion on a road that costs 10 times as much as other Ontario roads, which amount will probably escalate to significantly more than that, when you can spend a few hundred million dollars on an “interim” road. There, Minister, I just saved you $1 billion or so and balanced Ontario’s budget.

I wonder if Dwight will thank me for my brilliant suggestion by re-adding me as a friend on his Facebook site. I used to be on it but someone removed me after I BLOGGED something that may have offended the Minister. I trust that I made it up to him now.

The Minister need not worry. This tactic has been used before in Australia as I have BLOGGED previously. When the media ask the Minister how he came up with this wonderful idea to save $1 billion, all that he needs to say is that a little kangaroo told him. Here’s the reference: BLOG, Wednesday, April 11, 2007, “How A Kangaroo Can Save Canada's Economy."

Council Vote Paves Way For Ambassador Bridge Upgrades

You are never going to see a headline like the above nor a story similar to this in the Windsor Star unless Council starts a March, 2003 revolution against the Mayor. This is a take off on the Star’s Truck Ferry story:

• “City council approved recommendations Tuesday to spur over $2 billion worth of improvements to the Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project and the DRIC road to the Bridge..
  
  The project would employ 15,000 workers.
  
  The work was supposed to begin a long time ago, but was put on hold amid months of stalling by the Mayor and his taxpayer paid lawyers and consultants.”

The Truck Ferry story is fascinating for number reasons not even including the inability of the Government people involved to do a deal in a timely fashion.

It is of course an anti-competitive action by the Governments with respect to the Bridge Company. Here you have all three levels of Government assisting a private enterprise company compete against the Bridge Company. It is very similar to the monies that they have also offered the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel for their plaza improvements to help the Tunnel compete as well.

The Governments can pay money to build an access road and make terminal and dock improvements for the Ferry or for Tunnel plaza improvments but not for the Bridge Company. Seems strange to me that one private enterprise operator should be favoured over another, especially when the other is prepared to spend its own money.

Adding insult to injury, I think the money being used to finance the work is BIF money as part of the Let's Hope We Can Get Windsor-Essex Moving One Day Soon strategy. Yet not one penny has been used to build the road to the Bridge, an existing crossing, as the BIF program was supposed to do.

More interestingly, I don’t understand why all of this money is being wasted since the new DRIC bridge will be able to handle hazardous loads thereby putting the Truck Ferry completely out of business. Why make millions of dollars worth of changes when the future of the business is limited to a few more years. Are the Governments going to pay Mr. Ward when he is forced to close down because of their actions? I wonder how much money they will offer him.

I suspect that the land deal is not yet completed. I would also think that the amount of money required to buy that small piece of land, 30-metre stretch of Maplewood Drive, will be substantially higher than most people would think.

If I was the owner, I would want a separate fee for the thousands of trucks that improperly used the property over a good number of years. Aren't they trespassing? At say, $20 per vehicle, that would be a nice sum of money for starters. After all he ought to be able to charge the equivalent of a “toll” for the use of his roadway. In my opinion, that amount ought not to be paid by the Governments since that was an error made by the owner of the Ferry. Why should taxpayers have to bail him out for that?

In addition, I might think twice if I was the owner about selling the property at all. I might just want to sell the right to use that property for truck access for a period of time at $X per truck. Alternatively, I might calculate how many trucks might use that property for the next 50 or so years, the amount of time that the Governments will be in litigation with the Bridge Company over the border crossing, and say that this is the purchase price for my road.

Of course, it might be possible for the Governments to expropriate the land although I think they might have some legal trouble justifying doing so. But that won’t be so bad except for taxpayers. They will wind up paying him even more money once his lawyers get through with them!

He does have some clout after all. If he closes the road down, then all of the hazardous materials trucks and the oversized trucks will have to use the Blue Water Bridge. The fuss that they would raise over the delays in going over the border and the extra distance travelled would force the Governments back to the negotiating table immediately.

It should be fun watching this one being played out.

BLOGMEISTER FOR PRESIDENT IN '08

So you think the Internet is not a powerful tool, especially for politicians. Think again.

Many major candidates for office in the United States receive huge amounts of money via their e-commerce site on their websites. A hundred or two hundred dollars from a million people in a month makes a very big campaign pot for advertising.

I’m sure that you know that more people watched the Saturday Night Live spoof of the Republican Vice President on the Internet then watched it live on television.

Well it seems that a few of my readers in United States decided that they wanted to have some fun. Unbeknownst to me, they were trying to arrange to have my name added to some of the ballots in several states. Apparently, the US electoral system permits write-ins even on presidential ballots provided that there is a sufficient number of people who are prepared to support the write-in.

These jokesters decided that they would set up a site on the Internet to support my running for office. Apparently they have been unbelievably successful. It must show that the American public is looking for someone to run other than the major party candidates.

Unfortunately for my readers, they don’t even understand their own Constitution. If they did, they would know that a foreign-born person could not be an American President.

Accordingly, I’m going to have to spend some time trying to ensure that my name does not get on the ballot or else the entire vote might be deemed to be illegal. I would hardly want to be the one to be responsible for another Florida-type situation that might result in a US Supreme Court case.

Just to let you know how far this story has gone, here is the website. Click on the video to see the story from the Channel 3 news broadcast in the United States.
http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370617&altf=CMPH&altl=NFJTUFS

Mind you, it was quite a rush seeing my name up there in lights and thinking that some people might actually vote for me. I don’t have the ambition to run for a Senior Level office but maybe a municipal one might be interesting for me.

I know that I could beat Eddie Francis easily if he ran for a third term but I wouldn’t want to take away votes from Bill Marra because clearly he is much more qualified that I am given his background. Moreover, I would not want to split the vote so that Eddie can get back in through the middle.

Dave Cooke....the canal project should sink him while his University experience is no help given the long University strike. Perhaps I should contact Pammie to get her on my side to neutralize Larry Horwitz. After all, I wanted her to have her ceremony on the Ambassador Bridge when she married that Detroit rock star! You know, it would be symbolic: the merging of a Canadian and an American right at the border point.

Hmmm being Mayor, that might be too much work. Perhaps I should consider Ward 1 where I live. After the East End arena fiasco, it would not be too difficult to run against Councillor bristling Brister and win.

What is the name of that campaign manager who’s looking for some work…

PS. In case you have not figured it out, this is all a joke. Thanks to a reader for pointing me to the website.