What’s the Deal?

Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada, sent the following letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney calling on him to release his deal with Donald Trump after his contradictory comments on the Gordie Howe Bridge:

Prime Minister,

Canada paid for 100 per cent of the cost of building the Gordie Howe International Bridge under the simple promise that we would collect 100 per cent of the tolls until the cost was repaid.

Last week, you announced an agreement giving Americans a cut of profits sooner. Since then, Canadians have been left in the dark about how much you conceded with your government hiding the agreement from the public.  

Yesterday, while answering questions about the deal, you made directly contradictory statements about what you’ve given away.

First, you said, “It’s not splitting the tolls of the bridge.”

Then you continued, “It is an agreement for 15 years to split net revenues.”

But you just said you would not be splitting the tolls, so which is it? Are the Americans getting a cut or not?

You then went on to say, “Splitting of tolls, any sharing of the toll revenue won’t happen until all of the debt is repaid.”

After describing the split, you said, “net revenues are after operational costs. So it’s manning the toll booths, it’s maintenance, it’s snow removal, a series of other operational costs.”

But what about the debt you said would be paid off first? Are Canadians getting our promised money back or not?

Your Infrastructure Minister said on the weekend that it would be ‘half of net profits’ – not net revenue – that the Americans would receive, comments you echoed on Sunday. 

So what’s the deal? It’s been a week; it’s time for you to release the deal so Canadians can see for themselves what you negotiated away to the Americans.