AMERICAN-MADE RHETORIC
Moroun makes bridge ad for Trump
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and Windsor’s mayor say they won’t be distracted by a new TV commercial containing inaccuracies and incorrect suggestions by the owners of the Ambassador Bridge apparently aimed at getting U.S. President Donald Trump to halt construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. The 60-second ad is expected to make its debut soon on U.S. television during Fox & Friends, a morning news program known to be watched faithfully by Trump. “We were made aware of the video earlier today ( Wednesday),” said Mark Butler, spokesman for the Crown corporation tasked with administering the construction of the bridge.
“There are a number of inaccuracies and suggestions which are not correct.”
The commercial plays on American patriotism, including a sequence showing an American soldier in uniform apparently surrounded by his family standing in front of the stars and stripes and waving smaller flags.
The commercial opens with a male voice saying, “Dear Mr. President” and panoramic views of the Ambassador Bridge.
It goes on to say that there are two bridges being built between Windsor and Detroit, one of them Canadian and one of them American.
“There was a suggestion that it was a Canadian bridge, and nothing could be further from the truth,” said Butler.
“This is a bridge, while it is being financed by Canada, it will be publicly owned by the governments of Canada and Michigan. It is not a Canadian-only bridge.” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens viewed the TV ad and described it as “spin” from the Ambassador Bridge company, adding it was “just an attempt to derail the Gordie Howe bridge — another attempt.” The commercial’s narrator suggests the “Canadian” bridge will not employ Americans during its construction.
“The other suggestion is that only Canadians will have jobs on the bridge, and again that is absolutely not true,” said Butler. “When you get into operations, you are going to have U.S. Homeland Security working on the bridge, you are going to have Canada Border Services Agency working on the bridge, right from that point you can understand there is going to be both sides employment.
“If you’re looking at the more immediate, the construction, I can tell you that it’s an international project and there will be jobs on both sides of the border.” Butler said there are currently about 600 people employed preparing the site on the Canadian side, while there are fewer on the U.S. side because not all required properties have been acquired. “We do have several hundred Americans working on the U.S. preparatory activities,” Butler said.
“American workers have been doing the clearance of the trees and the scrub, demolition of the buildings on the properties we have acquired, doing the remediation work on the property, have been doing utility relocation on the U.S. port of entry, and that’s just a small part.”
The commercial continues with the narrator saying, “We want the American bridge. But wait,” the frame showing a picture of former U.S. president Barack Obama frowning, under the subtitle “Obama sided with Canada.” “Inexplicably, President Obama issued a presidential permit and granted a Buy American waiver for Canada, so their Canadian-owned bridge didn’t have to use American steel.”
Butler said Canada did get a waiver from U.S. “Buy American” policy, which requires any infrastructure project funded by the federal government to source American products, because the bridge’s construction is being funded by Canada.
“It might also be known as “Buy North American” because what it’s saying is that for any component the iron and steel has to be sourced from Canada or the United States,” Butler said.
“It is not saying it has to be one or the other. But what it does say is clearly it can’t be offshore steel.” The commercial continues with a photo of Trump saluting as the narrator says, “We have a simple request: Please review that presidential permit. Then revoke that presidential permit and let the grand new span be American, let those jobs be for Americans, let that steel be strong American steel. Choose American. Thank you sir.” The ad closes with: “Signed America.”
Butler said the competition currently underway ensures the bridge construction will employ both Canadians and Americans. “We currently have three proponent teams who are vying for the construction, the design, finance, operation and maintenance of the bridge,” Butler said.
“We will be announcing who the preferred proponent is very shortly. But each of those teams have Canadian and American companies on their teams. The very nature of the fact that it’s a binational U.S.-Canada bridge going between two countries, clearly you are going to have employment on both sides of the border.”
Butler said the inaccuracies in the commercial will not distract those involved in the project from their ultimate goal.
“What we have to bear in mind is that our project … is the only one that has all the permits in place to start building now,” Butler said. “We’ve gone through an incredible environmental assessment and studies. We’re poised to start construction later this year. It (the commercial) is not a distraction, it’s not an impediment to us, but we want to make sure the truth is known.
“Canada and the U.S. have had a long history of partnership, of trade between the two countries, both the governments of Canada and the United States recognize that the Windsor-Detroit corridor is perhaps one of the most important trade corridors between our two countries, and they recognize that there is a need to have added capacity at Windsor-Detroit.”