Michael Higgins: Mark Carney caves to Trump over Gordie Howe Bridge

The so-called dark art of political spin is nothing more than politicians proclaiming failure as success or, in the case of Mark Carney, that capitulation is rather a resounding victory. Canada’s new deal — a “bribe” according to one economist — on the...

The so-called dark art of political spin is nothing more than politicians proclaiming failure as success or, in the case of Mark Carney, that capitulation is rather a resounding victory. Canada’s new deal — a “bribe” according to one economist — on the Gordie Howe Bridge has been trumpeted by the prime minister as a sign of astute negotiations with the United States when it is really caving in to the demands of Donald Trump. Recommended Videos Some may try to excuse the prime minister on the basis that there is nothing to be done when negotiating with a bigger, overwhelming bully of a partner.

This may be true, but it is not what Carney promised, it is not what he told Canadians or the elite at Davos, and his reckless messaging has turned an erstwhile ally into a current and formidable opponent. A slogan during the Second World War was that “loose lips sink ships.” Carney’s bombastic talk over the last year or so may well have torpedoed any hopes of Canada striking a good deal with the U.S. on anything.

When Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed the 2012 deal on the Gordie Howe Bridge, linking Windsor and Detroit, the deal was straightforward: Canada paid to build the bridge, estimated at $6.4 billion, and then got to collect the revenue from tolls until the investment was paid off. “I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve,” Trump wrote in a post in February.

Forced to strike a new deal so that the bridge could open, Canada will now give 50 per cent of the net profits of the bridge to a Michigan economic development fund for the next 15 years. No details have been released about what that fund is intended for, so for all we know, instead of recouping our investment Canada might be paying to fix potholes in Detroit. Carney tried to make the new arrangement sound like an insignificant matter, but we don’t know what money is involved because the Liberal government isn’t saying.

“The word ‘net’ does a lot of work... We get the revenues, the servicing of the cost of the bridge and paying the debt. What’s left over, there’s a split of that for 15 years.

There’s not going to be a lot of ‘net’ to split. It’s a good deal for Canada,” Carney told CTV News on Sunday. But there will be some “net” to split and half of it will be going to the U.S. and not Canada, contrary to the original agreement.

Trump was ebullient. “I was able to cut a MUCH BETTER DEAL for America, and by so doing, will be allowing the new and spectacular Gordie Howe International Bridge, spanning Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, to open on July 27th, as scheduled. The original deal made was unacceptable to me!

The new deal is great, and fair,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. Another concession is that the U.S. gets to veto any toll increase of more than 10 per cent. Under the previous agreement, Canada controlled toll increases.

Derek Holt, vice president and head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank in Toronto, while celebrating the bridge opening, was clearly not a fan of the new deal. “Perhaps Canada’s willingness to pay a bribe was the correct thing to do in the short-term, but signing long-term deals with the U.S. on anything has suffered an additional blow,” he wrote. The opening was a “plus for commerce,” but Holt added, “It’s bad for credibility, faith in contracts and a system of law and order, the viability of making long-term deals with the U.S., and democracy.

It’s blatantly unfair and commingles donor politics with commerce once again. “Canadians have a right to know the full details, like was the Moroun family paid off somehow in the murky language of shared proceeds?” In Canada and abroad, Carney has painted himself as the unelected leader of a global anti-Trump movement.

He rode to political office on the back of an Elbows Up campaign that convinced Canadians that only he alone could handle Trump. In a speech at Davos, the prime minister insinuated that the era of American hegemony was over and that middle powers, such as Canada, could combine forces and reject the dominance of the “powerful.” But when push came to shove, Carney fell over.

Such capitulation does not bode well for trying to negotiate a fair deal under a new Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement. Carney — and Canada — might come to regret the prime minister’s ill-tempered rhetoric that burnt at least one very important bridge. National Post