Carney says Gordie Howe bridge opening could be delayed but ‘there’s no big drama’

Prime Minister Mark Carney says the Gordie Howe bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan might not open at the end of the week as he initially said, but insisted “there’s no big drama.” 

“Everyone is working hard to make sure the bridge is open as soon as possible,” Carney told reporters on the way into a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill. 

“If it takes a little longer, it’ll take a little longer. This will benefit Canadians, Americans, businesses, tourists and residents for decades and decades to come,” he said.

The comment comes a day after Carney said the long-planned Gordie Howe International Bridge held up by U.S. President Donald Trump would open by Friday.

After those remarks, the White House suggested that sort of timeline hasn’t been finalized and told CBC News the “president’s position on the Gordie Howe bridge has not changed.”

“The administration remains committed to securing the best possible deal for the American people,” a possible reference to Trump’s demands that the country immediately get a cut of the bridge tolls collected from a project it spent nothing on building.

Speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park after signing a memorandum of understanding with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the last he heard was that there will be “some sort of ribbon-cutting” on the Canadian side of the bridge this Friday, but he did not have “100 per cent of the details.”

He said questions remain about when the bridge will be operational, given Trump’s hostility.

“President Trump is making comments that it’s not going to open,” Ford said. “Let’s hope President Trump has a change of heart on this because it hurts his economy, and it will hurt ours, too.” 

Ford said he won’t attend whatever ceremony is planned for Friday, but will be there when cars actually start driving across the bridge, whenever that is.

“Hopefully it’s going to happen sooner or later,” he said.

Shapiro, for his part, condemned what he described as the “reckless and disrespectful rhetoric coming from our president,” saying he “respects Canadian sovereignty. Period.”

“All of that chaos at the federal level in the U.S. is making us all worse off,” he said. He added that Trump’s tariffs are “a real threat” to economic prosperity on both sides of the border.

Trump erupted on social media in February, posting a series of falsehoods about the artery saying he wouldn’t allow it to open “until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them.”

The federal government paid some $6.4 billion to build the Windsor-Detroit bridge, and it was constructed by Canadian and American workers using steel from both countries, despite the president’s bogus claims that there was “virtually no U.S. content.”

Canada is set to collect all of the toll money to recoup the costs of paying for a bridge without any U.S. financial assistance.

After Canada has recovered the construction costs it shouldered alone, Michigan will be eligible to receive 50 per cent of net toll revenues.

When it’s open, the bridge will allow for an uninterrupted flow of people and goods from Highway 401 on the Canadian side to Interstate 75 in the U.S., bypassing other congested crossings like the aging Ambassador Bridge and busy Windsor-Detroit tunnel.

The massive cable-stayed bridge will feature 36 primary inspection lanes for U.S.-bound passengers, funnelling millions of passengers and commercial vehicles across the Detroit River every year.

Even in a down year with trade disrupted due to Trump’s tariffs, the Ambassador Bridge carried nearly 1.9 million trucks in 2025, according to the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association.

The toll rates for the Gordie Howe bridge will be a fraction of what’s currently charged to use that neighbouring bridge, which is privately owned and operated by the billionaire Michigan-based Moroun family.

The Morouns have long sought to stymie the construction of another cross-border span, retaining lobbyists with ties to Trump and his administration and launching a failed lawsuit.