The Gordie Howe International Bridge is ‘absolutely perfect.’ Fighting about it is not
The Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., to Detroit has been “almost complete” as of February, but a major lawsuit challenging Canada’s decision to build it may not go to trial until 2027 or 2028, according to a newly obtained government memo.
The information was contained in a heavily revised briefing note prepared for Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson by deputy minister Paul Halucha.
The note is dated Feb. 17, 2026, and was obtained by CBC News through an access to information request.
“The construction of GHIB is complete. The remaining work includes [redacted] approval and inspection of critical systems [redacted]. Opening is possible [redacted] pending final certification and coordination of Canadian and US agency readiness,” the document said.
The forum was prepared a week after US President Donald Trump publicly threatened to stop the opening of the bridge, saying that Canada will not be allowed to proceed “unless America gets its piece” – even though the bridge was built and financed by Canada.
Internal document and sAys this bridge has faced 22 legal challenges from the private owners of the rival Ambassador Bridge in the last two decades. Canada has won 19 and only three remain, including the main case that an Ontario judge ruled will go to trial in late 2027 or early 2028.
In that case, the Canadian Transit Company, owned by the owners of the Ambassador Bridge, argues that when Parliament created the company in 1921, it had an implied right to protection from competing crossings.
By building the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the lawsuit argues, Canada violated that right.
CBC News contacted Torys LLP, the law firm representing Canada Transit Company in the case. Calls and emails were not returned.
Two other active legal challenges include a NAFTA arbitration claim and an Ontario court case in which the federal government is challenging the Ambassador Bridge owners’ claims over the century-old franchise rights associated with using the crossing and building a new one.
Infrastructure Canada, the minister responsible for the Gordie Howe International Bridge, was unable to respond to questions about the existing legal challenges facing the bridge.
The document outlines the effort required to build a competitive public crossing on a corridor long dominated by the privately owned Ambassador Bridge.
Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., said the Gordie Howe International Bridge illustrates the economic and political difficulties of building infrastructure across the border.
“I think it tells us that, even in the best of times, it’s a big challenge,” he told CBC News in an interview. “And then, in the worst times, which I would say between Canada and the US, it gets worse.”
Trautman called Trump’s intervention “extraordinary,” noting that the bridge has been completed and all major permits have been obtained.
He said the bridge was not only designed to improve commercial traffic, but also to provide additional capacity to a corridor that has long been dominated by a single private crossing.
“The border controls and the technology they’ve put in place, especially at the US Customs Plaza, should really help truck traffic and hopefully avoid some of the congestion that’s happening right now,” Trautman said.
The Ambassador Bridge handled more than $140 billion in freight trade by 2021, according to Transport Canada — that’s $390 million a day, a quarter of Canada’s shipping by road and more than the total annual US trade with countries like Colombia or Chile.
The letter briefly suggests that the economic war on crossings is already underway. The cost of the new crossing is set to be $8.75 US per axle, compared to $20 US per axle at the Ambassador Bridge.
“The opening of the GHIB is expected to materially affect traffic patterns in the Windsor-Detroit corridor, with a portion of commercial and passenger traffic expected to shift to the GHIB, given its highway and freeway connections and modern border infrastructure,” the document said.
‘I can’t come soon’ to truckers
“The opening couldn’t come soon enough for our membership,” Stephen Lakowski, president of the Ontario Trucking Association and the Canadian Trucking Alliance, told CBC News.
He said the tolls at the Ambassador Bridge are so high that many Canadian airlines use the Blue Water Bridge, which requires Detroit-bound trucks to take the 108-mile route from Port Huron, Mich., via Interstate 97.
In fact, so many of his members have been using the Sarnia-Port Huron crossing that the Ambassador Bridge is no longer the busiest commercial crossing on the Canada-US border, as CBC News first reported in April.
Ontario Trucking Association announced this month that the Gordie Howe International Bridge will save its members anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 per vessel per month due to lower costs.
Lakowski said the Gordie Howe International Bridge would not only be cheaper, but would also make more sense than the century-old Ambassador Bridge for many carriers moving cargo between pick-ups and dropoffs in Ontario and Michigan.
“You have modern infrastructure that is directly connected to Michigan’s highway system,” he said. “It’s a win for the Canadian supply chain.
“The longer it’s delayed, the more expensive it is for us and the supply chain.”
Summer is just two weeks away – but Gordie Howe International Bridge officials say the bridge will open this spring. The clock is ticking, and as CBC’s Chris Ensing explains, there’s renewed pressure to follow.
The Gordie Howe International Bridge is two years behind schedule. At a cost of $6.4 billion, it is nearly $500 million over budget.
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA), a Canadian Crown corporation created by the federal government to oversee the new bridge, said the crossing will open in the spring.
Infrastructure Canada, the minister responsible for the WDBA, has not commented on the legal challenges or specified when the bridge will open.
“The project team is making good progress on the spring opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will be an important economic link between the two countries,” wrote Caleb Spassov, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Canada, in an email.
“Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.”
