More Quick Thoughts

I wonder if you have thought about the same things that I've been thinking about over the last few days.

DRICONIAN SLIP

Quite a slick video put out by the DRIC people. However, did you notice the "slip" that they made. Was it deliberate, a signal to the Bridge Co.? This says to me that the beginning of a compromise solution between the Ontario Government and the Ambassador Bridge Company may be possible over the road even if the Feds want to fight.

Around the 6 minute mark of the DVD, you would hear the following if you click above:

• "The Windsor Essex Parkway is the right solution now. This will be the most expensive highway project in Ontario history and will lead to an estimated 12,000 full-time project-related jobs in Ontario…Imagine, a better border network with a modern roadway serving new and existing border crossings. The Windsor Essex Parkway is the right solution now."

Guess which crossing is the "existing" crossing being referred to. Yes, that's the one. Did that surprise you? It shouldn't have.

It looks like the Ontario Government has finally figured out that they need to build a road to the Ambassador Bridge after all. The compromise: Ontario will call this the "intermediate solution" until traffic picks up, say in 40, 50 or 60 years from now (See Transport Canada remarks below).

And they will not have to spend half of the $1.6B or more to build the ridiculous DRIC road.

BY THE NUMBERS

Here are some interesting numbers that help explain why a new bridge with new capacity is not needed in the region until perhaps 2040-2050 or later (according to Transport Canada). It may explain why a new DRIC bridge would have to cannibalize the trafffic from the other border crossings to make it viable for a P3 investor to survive thereby putting the other crossings into financial difficulties. Government subsidization would them be needed to keep them operational or they would risk bankruptcy:

• TORONTO, Ont. -- Ontario truck crossing statistics issued earlier this week by the Public Border Operators Association (PBOA), shows that international truck traffic is down 5.6% in the first four months of 2008 compared to the same period last year. If the timeline comparison is extended to 2005 the decrease in international truck crossings is 8.4% which could translate into 900,000 fewer truck crossings in 2008 compared to 2005.
  
  "Trucking activity is a leading economic indicator, and these numbers are yet another sign that the Ontario economy is going through a series of challenges that requires rethinking on the parts of all levels of government," said Ontario Trucking Association president, David Bradley.

Do you think that this is the reason that Sean O'Dell of Transport Canada is talking about a time period outside of the mandate of DRIC, and which has NOT been studied, to justify wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on an unneeded crossing:

• "I don't think that is an excessive amount [number of lanes] for long-term growth that we will probably see for the next 40, 50 to 60-year period."

WHY PUBLIC BRIDGE TOLLS ARE SO LOW

I know, I know. We need a public Bridge in Windsor/Detroit because the tolls are too high at the private Ambassador Bridge. Oh forget about the fact that the Cities owned Tunnel fares are higher because that just hurts the argument. We don't not need facts to confuse us.

The model for a new public bridge in this area is of course the Peace Bridge. Hasn't Brian Masse mentioned that Authority so many times already, and even brought Ron Rienas from the Peace Bridge here for a meeting, and bragged about its low tolls.

There are some quotes that I have posted before that you may have forgotten about public Bridge tolls"

• "Ron Rienas, General Manager, Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority stated:
  "The Peace Bridge is very similar in a sense that we operate much like the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission with private sector principles."


• "...most not-for-profit international bridges are already bound into major infrastructure expansion programs financed by private United States bond issues. The indentures already include fairly aggressive toll increase schedules over the next decade calculated to the maximum point of consumer resistance."


• "...but I can tell you that all of my toll revenue is first pledged to the bond holders. The bond holders get paid before I do. The bond holders get paid before the bridge is painted. The bond holders get paid before we build facilities for Canada Border Services Agency."

I just found out a new fact. Here may be the reason why a public Bridge can have a lower tolls than a private crossing. When they need money for bridge improvements, they don't ask the users to pay, they ask the Governments to pay! Here is what the Peace Bridge Authority has requested from the US Federal and New York State Governments:

• "Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council
  2030 Long-Range Transportation Plan
  
  Proposed Amendment--Peace Bridge Capacity Expansion Project
  
  The Peace Bridge expansion project is documented in the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council’s (GBNRTC) approved 2030 Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) as a regionally significant transportation project expected to impact area travel patterns and to be financed with non-federal revenue sources...
  
  The purpose of this action is to amend the approved GBNRTC 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan to include the Peace Bridge Capacity Expansion Project among those regional project priorities to be funded with federal revenue sources in addition to previously identified non-federal sources...
  
  The fiscal constraint of the LRTP would be adjusted by assuming new federal project demonstration funds and new state dedicated funds to finance a portion of the Peace Bridge Capacity Expansion Project. Those combined federal and state funds have been estimated at $90 million. The remaining portion of the total bridge cost would be financed with committed funding from the PBA, the Canadian government and an existing FHWA earmark....
  
  Tentative Funding Plan (Yr of Construction)
  1. PBA $ 230 M
  2. Canada $ 76 M
  3. FHWA Earmarks (Existing) $ 18 M
  4. State/Federal Earmarks $ 90 M

Now I get it. That's how they keep their tolls so low.

MORE TORONTO FALLOUT FROM THE TRAIN TRIP

I'm sure that you read as well as I did the nice pat on the back letters that Eddie and Sandra wrote to themselves for the party in Toronto that were published in the Windsor Star on Saturday. It was good stuff to keep the home folks thinking they are actually doing something that might help our economy.

I already told you about the Globe and Mail story that made fun of Eddie's job plan to fly people out West. Now have you seen the Toronto Star stories on the weekend that compared Windsor unfavourably with the economic boom developing in Sudbury.

Unfortunately, business people will get a very unfavorable description of our City Government and the mistakes that they have made. Again, a problem to overcome that cannot be blamed on naysayers and whiners.

While the stories written were pretty factual, there is no doubt that the Star writer was not impressed with what is going on in Windsor. The rather dramatic opening of the story on "Windsor is falling apart" talking about the fellow who needed a job and then committed suicide did not augur well for our City.

The stories were not too favourable to the Mayor or the Development Commission when the Reporter wrote:

• "There is a lot of sadness and anger around Windsor these days, despite talk from some city politicians that it's on the comeback trail...
  


• Lack of industrial and political foresight have also cost the city."
  


• He has floated the idea, unrealistic to many, of a program that would allow Windsor workers to commute to jobs in western Canada by air while keeping their homes and families in the city. Opposition politicians in the Ontario legislature used the idea as an example of the extent of Windsor's desperation.
  
  And some observers see it as just another example of city hall's ineffectiveness. Gerald Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association and a Windsor native, says council can't seem to make much progress in moving the community forward. He describes it as "dysfunctional."
  


• Critics of local leaders also point to a lack of attention to the Windsor Essex Development Commission, the local job-creation agency, until the past few years.
  


• Farming around the city, a casino and additions to a cluster of top-notch post-secondary schools also helped diversification away from manufacturing.
  
  But it hasn't been nearly enough. And some critics say Windsor hasn't leveraged its auto advantages enough or put the necessary resources into economic development over the years.

It was very ironic when he wrote at the end of the Sudbury story:

• "We have to live by not only what is beneath our feet but also what is between our ears."

Isn't that very similar to the line that Eddie's nemesis, Dennis DesRosiers, uses all the time when he quotes the former Chrysler president when talking about the new R&D jobs in the auto industry.