Clever Bureaucrats

I do need to apologize. The bureaucrats running the border project on both sides of the river are much smarter than I thought. They are waaaaaaaaay ahead of me in planning. Mind you, there are a lot more of them involved than just one of me. Ontario alone has 41 of them.

I could not understand at first how they could be so dumb so as to suggest looking seriously at a truck marshalling yard when there is no congestion problem. Who needs to spend $25 million on a facility that would never be used I foolishly thought. Maybe this was part of the DRTP deal, I feared, to have a staging area on the 401 instead of in the middle of Windsor.

It all became clear after I listened to the Senate hearing WEBCAST the other day when the Bridge Co. reps testified.

I made the classic citizen mistake. One should never take at face value or listen to what a bureaucrat seems to say since it is a diversion at first to make one undertake a wild goose chase and then a "gotcha" when they tell you exactly how they fooled you. It's like Eddie's Tunnel Improvement Plan which is said to be designed to get cars off City streets when I think it is really designed for reverse customs and to allow the Tunnel or its revenues to be financed in a third party deal. After all, wasn't he called a "legal technocrat."

I should just mention too that Government bureaucrats think they are clever types too. They think that we cannot figure out their plans.

So let's keep on pretending that we do not understand their brilliant plan. Let's pretend that we do not understand that the marshalling area is designed to force every truck to enter it so that the trucker can be told which crossing to use. Let's pretend that we do not understand that the mandatory marshalling area is the only way that a new P3 bridge has a chance of succeeding and a guaranteed throughput the only way that a private P3 partner would ever put in any financing. A P3 bridge at a toll of $50-60 per truck could otherwise never compete with the Ambassador Bridge tolls which are about 1/3 that amount now.

The bureaucrats MUST take business away from the Bridge Co. and direct it to a crossing and at a fixed toll. That is the only way that a P3 bridge can succeed and probably prevent all of the crossings in SW Ontario from going broke. Traffic has declined rapidly after all over the last few years without much hope of growth, contrary to what DRIC is telling us.

Oh and let's pretend that we don't know know that the idea that the mandatory marshalling yard will be located only between Windsor and Chatham is wrong too... We know it will be in the London area to control traffic for all of South-west Ontario!

It's a pretty good idea mind you, except now the trucks will go to Sarnia because the tolls will be cheaper there and not only kill their great plan but kill Windsor's economy as well.

But don't worry, that will be solved too. Sarnia and Fort Erie will get tied up in this marshalling system too. Then when tolls go higher, out of control, and traffic gets messed up royally, everything will be moved to the US so we won't have any worries about transportation. I betcha the bureaucrats did not consider that one.

They forgot that trucks are not airplanes and a truck navigation system won't work the way it does in the air industry.

Ok, I have to prove this to you skeptical readers again. Sheeeesh. Gridlock Sam told us all about this, back in the days when Eddie was the friend and confidant of the Feds. The Plan was inserted in the Schwartz Report to show how smart Eddie and Sam were when the Feds did this:

• "Balanced Traffic between Blue Water Crossing and Windsor-Detroit Crossings
  
  Developing a balanced traffic network between the Sarnia-Port Huron and Detroit-Windsor Crossings would provide benefits without a new crossing but would be compatible with any of the new crossings. Essentially it means adopting acceptable levels of service guidelines at all facilities as a goal and maintaining the goal, as best possible, through Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) measures, policies, directing trucks after they are screened and pricing strategies. It sets aside the profit-motive, which means each facility is competing for the most traffic, with a utilitarian-motive: the greatest good for the greatest number. Such a scheme may require revenue sharing among participants.
  
  Authorities should consider rerouting long-haul trucks, originating from London or points east... Measures to re-route could be mandatory by pre-processing trucks at London and rerouting 30% to Blue Water Bridge or voluntary by using variable message signs and other forms of communications to long haul truckers advising them that the Blue Water Bridge is the faster route."

And the Finance Department mandarins are no slouches either. We are having a late spring/early summer federal election in Canada and they know the Conservatives will make a concentrated attempt to keep Jeff Watson's seat and win one or two more in the region. There is gossip about the attractive candidates the Conservatives are wooing.

Ergo and in the Nick of time, Minister Flaherty said in his Advantage Canada speech:

• "Advantage Canada builds on the unprecedented $16.5-billion investment in infrastructure outlined in Budget 2006. We will provide long-term, predictable funding and a fair and transparent allocation of program funding supporting, among other investments, improvements to Canada’s core national highway system.
  
  We will also look for ways to get more out of infrastructure investments by taking advantage of the innovative financing provided through public-private partnerships.
  
  And let me say, Mr. Chairman, that we believe there is a lot of room for improvement in how we manage infrastructure projects.
  
  Take, for example, the Windsor-Detroit Corridor. Windsor-Detroit is the crossing point for 28 per cent of all trade in goods between Canada and the United States.
  
  It is just not acceptable that, after all these years, governments have not finished the job to make this crossing more efficient and secure.
  
  Surely we can do better, and we will. A financing strategy for this vital crossing will be addressed in the next budget to get the job done expeditiously."

So there it is, all laid out before you. Gee those bureaucrats are clever! But let's keep a secret. Let's pretend that we do not know why Bill C-3 is absolutely essential to their scheme. We don't want them to think we are smart too.