Ottawa, ON – Shuvaloy Majumdar, Conservative Shadow Minister for Canada-United States Relations, issued the following statement after the release of the Gordie Howe International Bridge agreement with the United States:
“Canadians are fed up with the endless demands for concessions, unjustified tariffs and attempts to hold our relationship for ransom. The Trump Administration has demanded more and more at the bargaining table while our country gets nothing except more attacks on our jobs, economy and livelihoods.
“After almost two weeks of pressure from Conservatives calling on Carney to release the agreement he negotiated with the US, and the day after Pierre Poilievre called for an emergency meeting of the Government Operations committee to study the deal, his government finally released the text to the public.
“Sadly, it reveals that instead of recouping the costs Canada spent on building the bridge, Carney gave President Trump half of the bridge revenue without America paying a single cent for construction, and he further conceded setting toll rates to the United States.
“That means Canada is not only handing over revenues before paying back all the debt, but under Carney’s agreement, the Americans will get a slice of revenue from a bridge they didn’t pay for before the interest on the debt is paid for.
“The agreement directly contradicts what Carney said after announcing the bridge opening: ‘any sharing of the toll revenue won’t happen until all the debt, all of the debt, is repaid.’ While Carney tried claiming the American split would be used to benefit the bridge, the agreement makes clear the fund will be ‘established and solely controlled by the Government of the United States.’
“As Carney gives away 50 per cent of bridge revenue to the Americans, the US administration slapped Canada with a new set of unjustified tariffs of 50 per cent on our exports. Canadians deserve better treatment from our neighbours with a government that fights for them at every turn and builds our strength with decisive leadership.
“When the PMO spends two weeks saying it can’t release Carney’s agreement on the Gordie Howe Bridge because it’s an ‘agreement in principle’ that has yet to be finalized, only to dump it on a Tuesday evening, it’s clear there is no plan for how to handle the US.
“We should not accept the squandered year and a half that Mark Carney has taken us through. Our country desperately needs a government that will finally start making Canada stronger at home so we can have unbreakable leverage abroad.”