Good morning. The Gordie Howe International Bridge seemed destined for a triumphant opening, until a political showdown got in the way – more on that below, along with a made-in-Canada health breakthrough and Alphonso Davies’s much-watched hamstring. But first:

• The parliamentary committee on MAID is expected to oppose expanding access to patients with mental illness, sources say
• Alberta Health Services has been ordered to hand over documents to the RCMP, the agency’s vice-president confirms
• English universities reach a deal with Quebec on French-language rules

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is a handsome feat of engineering. It’s the largest-ever bridge built between the U.S. and Canada, supported by hundreds of crisp, ultra-light cables that plunge from two large, wishbone-shaped towers – yet at a distance, it seems to skim over the Detroit River and looks almost ribbon-thin. The Gordie, as locals call it, took six years to break ground, another six to construct, plus more than a year to inspect, and cost Canadians $6.4-billion in total. It was finally meant to open last Friday. Then Donald Trump threw a wrench in the plans.

“There’s not great drama here,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Thursday, hours after the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority called off the ribbon-cutting event. He explained that the Canadian government agreed to delay the opening “at the request of the United States” to “resolve outstanding issues.” He did not say what those issues were exactly, nor how long they’d take to iron out.

This wouldn’t be the first time the U.S. President tried to hold up the Gordie. In February, Trump complained on Truth Social that the bridge “has virtually no U.S. content” and that Canada will reap all the benefits while America gets “absolutely NOTHING” in return. He insisted he would “not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them,” then suggested “we should own, perhaps, at least half of this asset.”

It’s an odd gripe, given that Canada paid for the entire bridge, used plenty of U.S. steel and labour to build it, and already intends to split ownership with the state of Michigan. But there’s another group here that really, really doesn’t want the Gordie to open: Detroit’s Moroun family, the billionaire owners of the century-old Ambassador Bridge, which crosses the river just five kilometres away.

Troubled waters

Back in 1979, trucking magnate Manuel “Matty” Moroun purchased the Ambassador Bridge, making it the only international crossing in North America that’s in private hands. He then spent the next four decades ferociously defending his monopoly against assaults from governments and local residents, pouring tens of millions of dollars into legal, political and PR campaigns. (His actions led Forbes to call him “the troll under the bridge.”) After Moroun gave hefty contributions to state lawmakers in the early 2010s, Michigan failed to advance legislation that would’ve helped fund the Gordie. Canada swallowed the full cost instead.

Moroun died at 93 in the summer of 2020, but his son Matthew has taken up the fight to stop the rival bridge. The family hired a lobbying firm with ace White House connections, Ballard Partners, which counts among its former employees Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and his ex-attorney-general, Pam Bondi. The younger Moroun also donated more than US$1-million to MAGA Inc. in mid-January – if the name didn’t tip you off, it’s a super PAC devoted to Donald Trump.

Weeks after that contribution, Moroun Jr. reportedly scored a sit-down in Washington with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Just hours later, Trump sent out his Truth Social post threatening to block the Gordie Howe bridge. The Globe and Mail discovered that the Morouns were behind the abrupt cancellation of last week’s grand opening, as well. Lutnick and Pete Hoekstra, the Michigan-raised U.S. ambassador to Canada, are trying to negotiate a deal that would save the family from losing too much money once they have to compete with the Gordie.

The road ahead

It’s not hard to understand why the Morouns want to remain the only bridge in town. Roughly US$300-million in trade moves across the Ambassador every day, and the family charges those vehicles at least twice the rate paid at publicly owned junctions elsewhere in Ontario. The bridge already lost its top spot as the busiest U.S.-Canada trade crossing last year: Trucks are increasingly choosing the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, 100 kilometres away, mostly to avoid shelling out the steep tolls. And the Gordie isn’t just bigger and better connected than the Ambassador – with two more lanes and highway-to-highway access – it also said it will charge commercial vehicles far less.

Lutnick and Hoekstra have floated a few ways to spare the Morouns a large financial hit. Perhaps tolls could be fixed at particular levels to avoid the Gordie outcompeting the Ambassador. Maybe certain types of traffic, like Nexus travellers, could be diverted to the family bridge. But Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens cautioned the federal government about making too many concessions. “Although we would all like the Gordie Howe Bridge to open, Canada need not fall on bent knee to make it happen,” he said on social media. “Get us a great trade deal, Mark Carney!”

A handful of hot mics caught G7 leaders discussing the World Cup, cage fights, forgotten watches and smoking-cessation plans – as well as an enthusiastic response from U.S. President Donald Trump to Ottawa’s cap on Chinese-made EVs. Read more about the informal chats here.