{"id":817510,"date":"2026-07-22T00:57:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817510\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T00:57:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:57:30","slug":"gordie-howe-bridge-opening-celebration-with-u-s-cancelled-ottawa-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817510\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordie Howe Bridge opening celebration with U.S. cancelled, Ottawa says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Gordie Howe Bridge under construction between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit on May 22.Paul Sancya\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The federal government said Tuesday that in light of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s latest tariff threats, Canada will not be celebrating the opening of the Gordie Howe International bridge with the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be inappropriate to proceed with a celebratory event between the two countries,\u201d said Jenna Ghassabeh, spokesperson for Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, in an e-mailed statement.<\/p>\n

A Canada-only celebration is expected to take place Friday and the bridge is still set to open next Monday.<\/p>\n

Sources with knowledge of the event, who spoke on condition they not be named, said invitations had been sent out for the Friday event. They said the decision for the event to be Canada-only was made earlier Tuesday and attendees were notified in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Trump said Monday he was going to hit an array of Canadian products with 50 per cent tariffs in 30 days. American officials said the new levies are a response to provincial bans on U.S. alcohol, Canada\u2019s supply-managed dairy system and quotas on American cars.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday morning and they agreed to intensify trade negotiations.<\/p>\n

Neither Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer nor the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority have yet responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Side deal to share Gordie Howe toll profits with U.S. doesn\u2019t include provision for debt repayment<\/a><\/p>\n

The bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan was a visual reminder of the proximity and integration between the province and U.S. state. It is named after legendary Canadian hockey player Gordie Howe who led the Detroit Red Wings to four Stanley Cup victories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Friday, we join partners, family & friends in Windsor\/Detroit for the ribbon cutting of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Gordie always believed in bringing people and communities together,\u201d the Howe Foundation said in a post on social media Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing this bridge bear his name fills our family with immense pride and gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bridge has also come to symbolize the upended relationship between Canada and the United States with Trump\u2019s return to the White House.<\/p>\n

Its opening was delayed previously after the Trump administration sought to renegotiate the bridge deal following pushback from the billionaire Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge and is a significant Republican donor.<\/p>\n

A ribbon-cutting event had been scheduled for June 12 to officially open the $6.4-billion bridge, but a White House source told The Canadian Press that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick intervened.<\/p>\n

In the weeks that followed, Lutnick and U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra led negotiations on the new deal.<\/p>\n

Lutnick had already thrown the bridge\u2019s future into disarray in February.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported Lutnick met with a member of the Moroun family just before Trump issued a social media post threatening to block the bridge\u2019s opening if the United States wasn\u2019t compensated.<\/p>\n

A deal to open the bridge was announced July 10 but its details have caused confusion. Carney has said Canada and the U.S. will split net revenues \u2013 after operational costs \u2013 over the course of the first 15 years.<\/p>\n

The U.S. portion will go into a regional economic development program in Michigan, while Canada can use its share to repay the construction debt.<\/p>\n

The Bloomberg news service has reported there is no provision to cover debt servicing costs in the deal.<\/p>\n

The 15-year agreement to open the bridge is separate from the deal Ottawa signed in 2012 which saw Canada shoulder the costs of construction.<\/p>\n

The original deal, signed with former Republican Michigan governor Rick Snyder, remains in place and after 15 years all toll revenues will go to Canada until the full construction cost is repaid. After that, the toll revenues will be split with Michigan.<\/p>\n

The bridge\u2019s ownership is shared between Michigan and the Government of Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Gordie Howe Bridge under construction between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit on May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,20739,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-817510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-ottawa","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}