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COMMENTARY: Whatever happened to Canada standing up to the U.S.?

When I first heard the news report, I couldn’t believe it. Is this really accurate?

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U.S. President Donald Trump simply conveyed the order: the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor and Detroit is not permitted to open.

With the deep-pocketed Matthew Moroun – the proud owner of the nearby Ambassador Bridge – whispering in Trump’s ear (and providing a cool US$1 million donation to MAGA Inc.), the U.S. president effectively told the Canadian government and the Canadian people what they can and cannot do. The White House and the Canadian government have since announced an agreement to open the bridge, but how was the U.S. able to delay it?

Is not the Gordie Howe Bridge a critically important piece of economic infrastructure for us? Was it not built by Canadian workers and companies? For heaven’s sake, didn’t Canadians pay for that bridge?

Unprecedented incident

This can’t be happening, I said to myself. It’s unprecedented. After studying Canada-U.S. relations for over 40 years, I’m hard-pressed to recall a similar incident ever happening in the post-1945 period.

Since when does an American president give Canada its marching orders?........

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