Did Carney sign an 'awful' Gordie Howe Bridge deal? PM insists new agreement a good one

Prime Minister Mark Carney has defended the deal between Canada and the United States to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ont., with Detroit, Michigan.

“I’m happy the bridge is going to be open. We need it. We need it because we’re expanding,” Carney said in an interview with CTV at the Calgary Stampede on Sunday.

His comments come after the Government of Canada confirmed that the bridge will open on July 27, following weeks of delays and public criticism from the Trump administration.

Speaking on the new profit split with the U.S., Carney told CTV: “The word ‘net’ does a lot of work in this. We are sharing after Canada is paid back. We get the revenues. Then the servicing of the costs of the bridge and paying the debt of the bridge, and then what’s left over, there’s a split of that for 15 years.”

Canada paid for the $6.4-billion bridge’s construction, but jointly owns the Gordie Howe with Michigan. Under the original agreement signed in 2012, Canada was to collect bridge tolls until its costs were recouped, after which revenues would be split with Michigan.

The prime minister told CTV that money in an economic development fund will be “invested back” in the U.S. side of the region, which he argues will “drive more traffic.”

“There’s not going to be a lot of net to split,” he added, calling it a “good deal for Canada.”

However, the deal has garnered criticism for being a concession to the Trump administration. On social media, Conservative MP Andrew Lawton wrote: “Mark Carney’s capitulation to Trump on the Gordie Howe Bridge is awful for Canada.” And Shuv Majumdar, MP for Calgary Heritage, called it “a terrible deal for Canada.”

Mark Carney’s capitulation to Trump on the Gordie Howe Bridge is awful for Canada. Canadians deserve to know the details of this agreement. https://t.co/fwvNJn3ADw

Majumdar also shared a letter he wrote to Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, demanding that the full agreement be released before the bridge’s opening on July 27, providing Canadians with “a complete account of what was given away, what was received, and the true cost of this deal.”

Meanwhile, on Truth Social, Donald Trump took credit for the new deal, which he described as a “MUCH BETTER DEAL for America.” He added that the original agreement was “unacceptable.”

In February, Trump suggested that the U.S. should own half the project, pledging to block its opening “until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given” Canada.

His comments came shortly after the Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge, made a US$1 million contribution to MAGA Inc. in January.

Michigan and Canadian officials had planned an opening ceremony for the Gordie Howe Bridge last month, but abandoned the event at the last moment when U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly intervened.

Since then, a growing chorus of U.S. politicians had called for the Gordie Howe Bridge to be opened. Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens, meanwhile, previously told National Post that it would be better to keep the Gordie Howe Bridge closed than to “make a bad deal.”