Gordie Howe International Bridge ribbon-cutting set to go ahead this week

A ribbon-cutting event for the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan is set to go ahead later this week.

A source with knowledge of the planning who is not authorized to speak about it publicly said the event is tentatively scheduled for Friday.

The Detroit Free Press has reported that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and former governor Rick Snyder are expected to attend. It is not clear when the bridge will be open to traffic.

The ribbon-cutting will mark an important step forward for the bridge after U.S. President Donald Trump insisted in a social media post in February that the United States would have to be compensated before he would allow it to open.

Soon after, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he spoke with Trump and expected the situation to be resolved.

The Gordie Howe bridge, which connects Windsor and Detroit, was able to move ahead after Ottawa signed a 2012 deal with Snyder, a Republican. Canada agreed to shoulder the cost of construction and recoup its investment through tolls, after which the money would be split with the state.

The bridge’s ownership is shared between Michigan and the Government of Canada.

The project has long faced significant pushback from members of the Moroun family, who own the competing Ambassador Bridge. House Democrats are probing whether the billionaire family took action to obstruct the Gordie Howe bridge’s opening.

The New York Times reported that Matthew Moroun had a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just before Trump’s social media post attacking the project.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said in a news release at the time that “President Trump’s wealthy donors should not be holding secret meetings with administration officials to influence economic and foreign policies that have real impacts on the American people.”

The investigation calls for Lutnick and Moroun to hand over documents relating to their meeting and other communications with the White House about the bridge, among other things.

Democrats also demanded all records about donations or payments from the Moroun family to the Trump campaign, associated political action committees and the Republican party.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press