September 6, 2024 • 11 mins
Windsor West MP Brian Masse joins Jon Liedtke on AM800 CKLW to discuss why he’s calling on Ottawa to disclose all reports and studies on the safety and security of our community before allowing further classes of hazardous materials across the Ambassador Bridge, following approval by the State of Michigan’s Department of Transportation (MDoT).
MP Masse also discusses the status of Ojibway National Urban Park following the end of the Supply and Confidence Agreement between the NDP and Liberals.
This interview aired on AM800 CKLW
MP Masse also discusses the status of Ojibway National Urban Park following the end of the Supply and Confidence Agreement between the NDP and Liberals.
This interview aired on AM800 CKLW
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, we have thousands of vehicles that go across
the Ambassador Bridge every single day. It is a unique
aspect of our skyline, though not to be the only
unique aspect of our skyline. As the Gordy Howe International
Bridge does complete, it does continue to complete its construction.
But there are still concerns right now about the Ambassador Bridge,
and Windsor West Member of Parliament Brian Massey has been
(00:22):
raising them. He's calling on Ottawa to disclose all reports
and studies on the safety and security of our community
before allowing further classes of hazardous materials to travel across
the Ambassador Bridge following approval by the State of Michigan's
Department of Transportation. Joining me right now is MP Brian Massey.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
How you doing good things? How are you doing really well?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Brian? So what is this situation here? What is it
that Michigan's dot Department of Transportation has approved, so.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
They're allowing additional classifications and has this materials Often these
are elements that are related to a battery and they
haven't ironically actually combustible engine batteries and go across as well,
and they haven't ever at any rate. We're looking at
an additional ten thousand minimum. Has those material trucks that
will go over the Ambassador Bridge, many of them will
(01:11):
require also escorts to do so. So I'm opposing this
because it historically hasn't been capable to deal with the
containment case of a leak. Even just this past week,
the Blue Water Bridge, which is capable of containing the
leaks and spills with infrastructure on the bridge built for
that alone, was even closed an additional seven hours because
(01:31):
of leakage, not even just an accident. So what I'm
saying is that why would we change this now when
the gordyhow Bridge is going to be fully operational and
fully capable of doing this the highest standards possible versus
that of the Ambassador Bridge where it doesn't have those standards,
and it will require I guess, a compromise in terms
of the way that it's actually going to manage spills
(01:52):
and so forth, and also it's going to complicate other
traffic on the bridge.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Where would be better places for this to travel across.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Just continue what we're doing now, going to the Bluewater Bridge.
Sadly I thought to keep the and we didn't win
to keep the ferry service in operation, but that was
closed the Gordi Hiw International Bridge, who will be fully
capable of carrying all those elements and it will be
built also in the customs end of it to separate
the traffic for those goods and services, and so that's
(02:20):
what's going to be the future. That drove the business
to move and shift in the short term, and the
ferry Service lost a lot of customers coming up to
the Gordy opening up, and so we should have actually
kept that in operation, and that was requested by the
Ferry Service and it wasn't. So what we need to
do now is just live with the consequence, and that's
go to Blue Water and cross safely and do it
(02:41):
the proper way, and the short term and the long
term go across the Gordy and don't open this up.
For the unprecedented future, we will have it again. Tens
of thousands of more trucks on the Ambassador Bridge. And
then lastly they have to do with inspection and also
customs sometimes off site down here in Church Road, so
it's going to put some of these trucks into city streets.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It does seem pretty odd to be doing this, so
shy of the Gordy Howe Bridge opening up and being
able to deal with this. I remember not too long ago.
I'm sure you do as well, Brian, the Ambassador Bridge
blockade and how much hardship it caused for our local economy,
the auto industry with the border shut down when it
was you know, and indefinitely in that case, and it did,
of course reopen. But I wonder if there was a
(03:23):
hazardous materials leakage that would shut everything down and it
would really impact our economy.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
It definitely will if there is a leakage, and you're
absolutely correct, and that's why we said that he's stoat
only just in terms of the environment, but also the economy.
It doesn't make any sense to have, you know, a
ninety year plus bridge that wasn't built for it having
these types of substances cross and we we have alternatives saying,
that's just unbelievable that you know, this miss Department of
(03:50):
Michigan and you know has approved it. But they did
so if you look at their study after even reviewing
their entire areas. And so I've called for the release
of all provincial and federal studies and they have not
yet done that. There's only one reference we can find
that was done. So quite frankly, it's quite likely that
the doug Ford government and the Trueau government have not
done any full analysis of the houses, material trucks or
(04:13):
where they go into the community in an assessment of that.
The City Windsor has issued a proclamation against this. The
council did they send it to our MPs and I
was the only one who made submission against it into
them dot review. And you know, it doesn't take into
account the trucks and city streets. We're not even really
talking about right now. We're just focusing on the bridge.
(04:34):
But these are tens of thousands trucks and they are
now going to be reintroduced into the city streets because
we don't connect rebectly into the poor one right now,
which is.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Exactly what we've been, you know, working so hard to
stop having happened over the past number of years, getting
towards the Gordy Howe opening up. But hey, can we
shift gears just a little bit here if you don't
mind my automotive talk Right there, we have, of course
NDP leader jug Meet saying ripping up the supply and
confidence agreement with the Liberals we heard about that a
couple days ago. Love to get your perspective as to
(05:02):
where things stand now.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah, so essentially, you know, we've got everything we should
have had an agreement. There's a few minor things that
have to be completed. But we felt with all the
different types of decisions that are being made and not
getting the government to act on them, it was time
to move away from that. And the Prime Minister and
the Liberal Party have let Canadians down not only just
on affordability, but a few other issues. And we couldn't
(05:25):
stand with the current situation because it wasn't really benefiting
what people have sent us to out of what to do,
and that's making life more affordable and to stand up
for issues. And I can't think of a more better
example than this border issue with the Ambassador Bridge, where
we have an American billionaire and the state of Mission Michigan,
you know, basically dictating that we'll have trucks of houses
(05:45):
material and you know the windsor exisen of community and
we're not fighting against it. So there's a series of
repertoire of things. And so we're going to go back
to Ottawa, will work to try to get things done.
But at the same time they just can't count on
the supply confidence motion anymore because those objectives for pharmacare
dental care are a pretty much done, and that's why
we want to actually go and get more for Canadians
(06:06):
while we can.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Is there a risk though, that this might empower the
block to give them a bit more power and shift
the focus away from more of the measures that you're
looking to see.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
No, yea alutely, there's always a definite consequence to this,
There's no doubt about it. In fact, Pierre Palev and
the Conservatives voted with Justin Trueau many many times. They
didn't put members in the House to do their full
voting because they were going through their leadership issues with
Aaron O'Toole and Andrew Sheer and so Forthe we'll forget
about that, is that many times that the Conservatives supported
(06:36):
Justin Trudeau and there was no compromise to get anything.
We went into the supply confidence agreement to get things done,
being the dental care, of Pharmacare, anti scab legislation and
so forth, and those things are pretty much completed now
and that's why we're going to stract something for the
confidence of the government, so that Gain can actually reignite.
So the Conservatives, for all their bluster, they could eventually
(06:58):
go back to doing what they did before. In fact,
justin Trudeau support is Stephen Harper over one hundred times
during Harper's minority Parliament or the Block could actually do
that as well too. So doesn't mean we're going to
an election right away. There's lots of scenarios. Does open
the opportunity though, for more possibilities of an election.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Hey, well, getting closer and closer to an election is
one of those things. Death taxes, elections, They're going to happen.
There's not much you can do about it. One thing though,
that did pop up. I was wondering, and I spoke
yesterday with President of Friends of Ojibway, Mike Fisher about
the Ojibway National Urban Park and your bill specifically, and
if we are getting closer to an election, what are
(07:37):
the risks for Ojiboy National Urban Park if an election
is called and your bill dies on the floor. And
I know that there had been money allocated from the
other side through the Park's Canada process, but is there
a risk at all of the entire Ojibway National Urban
Park process being derailed if things don't get done before
an election.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, first, I want want to say that Mike Fisher
and friends of the Jibwey have done a proramal work
and I want to thank them for everything and continue
to work with them and to get things done. But yes,
that was always a case though the bill C two
four eight a jib National Earm Park was never part
of a supply confidence motion. In fact, it was one
of the first pieces of legislation to get out of
the House of Commons to the Senate floor and didn't
(08:15):
get a lot of movement, so we put more pressure
on it and so that is at risk. But we're
working really hard and I'm working with all political parties
including the Minister's office right now to do some changes
to the bill so it can get through the Senate
and then from the Senate it would go to the
House of Commons. So that risk was always there and
has been there because again it wasn't part of the
supply confidence but it is you know, basically susceptible to
(08:38):
how long a government lasts because private members business has
to be redone for it. So hopefully this will actually
put more pressure to actually get it done where I
wanted it done over a year ago. There wasn't that
political desire at some points to get it passed. And
perhaps this will actually speed the process up because there'll
be more focused so we have a solution for some
(08:58):
of the problems that are being presented in front of
the bill, and we're going to actually be putting them
forward to the Senate. We'll be doing that and then
hoping to get it to the House. So it actually
could even speed things up because the urgency is there regardless.
The Gordy Howi International Bridge is opening up, and so
we don't have time to pool around with this, and
it's unfortunate it's taken so long, but we got to
get it done and know Parliament will last forever. And
(09:19):
at the same time, it wasn't moving because nobody was
taking it seriously enough. And again it was a part
of the agreement because the bill was introduced after that
agreement was done.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Okay, and I guess last question on the same file. Then,
with the funding that has been provided right now in
the current budget for the next five years that allocates
towards creating the process, I'm presuming that all of the
money wasn't handed over at once, and that let's say,
if there is a Conservative government that comes in, they
could cancel the following four years of funding if they wanted.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
To, absolutely, and that's always been a risk and one
of the reasons I want legislation. In fact, if the
government wants to right now, they could even actually do
a ordering councilor past this. So you know, I haven't
talked about that too much. You're the first person to
really ask these the deep questions on this issue. And
the reality is that this could actually move through as
a legisation if they wanted at some point as well too,
(10:11):
So there's a variety of things that can take place
out of there to get it done. But there is
no doubt that if it doesn't have legislation, then it's
susceptible to other governments and what they decide. That's always
going to be the case no matter what other governments
to come in and cut funding for programs and services.
That's our fear over the Conservatives, because they haven't committed
to pharmacare they haven't committed to dental care. They'm committed
(10:34):
to a series of things, the automotive funds and so forth.
So that is on the table for everything for a
new government.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's the reason why pressure needs to be kept up
on your elected officials for the things that people here
at the audience that you're listening for, that you care about,
whether it be a national urban park or any other
things that you are striving to see or elected reps
push forward. Brian, thank you for breaking this down for us.
It doesn't sound like it's all doom and gloom yet,
but people should be still out there volunteering and making
themselves heard because time is running shorter than it was
(11:06):
a few days ago.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yes, and thank you very much. And I would just
encourage that we can continue to fight for the things
that are important person. Let's get them done now. Well
I wait for later.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Absolutely, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Brian Massey is our Member of Parliament for Windsor West
You know, we have thousands of vehicles that go across
the Ambassador Bridge every single day. It is a unique
aspect of our skyline, though not to be the only
unique aspect of our skyline. As the Gordy Howe International
Bridge does complete, it does continue to complete its construction.
But there are still concerns right now about the Ambassador Bridge,
and Windsor West Member of Parliament Brian Massey has been
(00:22):
raising them. He's calling on Ottawa to disclose all reports
and studies on the safety and security of our community
before allowing further classes of hazardous materials to travel across
the Ambassador Bridge following approval by the State of Michigan's
Department of Transportation. Joining me right now is MP Brian Massey.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
How you doing good things? How are you doing really well?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Brian? So what is this situation here? What is it
that Michigan's dot Department of Transportation has approved, so.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
They're allowing additional classifications and has this materials Often these
are elements that are related to a battery and they
haven't ironically actually combustible engine batteries and go across as well,
and they haven't ever at any rate. We're looking at
an additional ten thousand minimum. Has those material trucks that
will go over the Ambassador Bridge, many of them will
(01:11):
require also escorts to do so. So I'm opposing this
because it historically hasn't been capable to deal with the
containment case of a leak. Even just this past week,
the Blue Water Bridge, which is capable of containing the
leaks and spills with infrastructure on the bridge built for
that alone, was even closed an additional seven hours because
(01:31):
of leakage, not even just an accident. So what I'm
saying is that why would we change this now when
the gordyhow Bridge is going to be fully operational and
fully capable of doing this the highest standards possible versus
that of the Ambassador Bridge where it doesn't have those standards,
and it will require I guess, a compromise in terms
of the way that it's actually going to manage spills
(01:52):
and so forth, and also it's going to complicate other
traffic on the bridge.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Where would be better places for this to travel across.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Just continue what we're doing now, going to the Bluewater Bridge.
Sadly I thought to keep the and we didn't win
to keep the ferry service in operation, but that was
closed the Gordi Hiw International Bridge, who will be fully
capable of carrying all those elements and it will be
built also in the customs end of it to separate
the traffic for those goods and services, and so that's
(02:20):
what's going to be the future. That drove the business
to move and shift in the short term, and the
ferry Service lost a lot of customers coming up to
the Gordy opening up, and so we should have actually
kept that in operation, and that was requested by the
Ferry Service and it wasn't. So what we need to
do now is just live with the consequence, and that's
go to Blue Water and cross safely and do it
(02:41):
the proper way, and the short term and the long
term go across the Gordy and don't open this up.
For the unprecedented future, we will have it again. Tens
of thousands of more trucks on the Ambassador Bridge. And
then lastly they have to do with inspection and also
customs sometimes off site down here in Church Road, so
it's going to put some of these trucks into city streets.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It does seem pretty odd to be doing this, so
shy of the Gordy Howe Bridge opening up and being
able to deal with this. I remember not too long ago.
I'm sure you do as well, Brian, the Ambassador Bridge
blockade and how much hardship it caused for our local economy,
the auto industry with the border shut down when it
was you know, and indefinitely in that case, and it did,
of course reopen. But I wonder if there was a
(03:23):
hazardous materials leakage that would shut everything down and it
would really impact our economy.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
It definitely will if there is a leakage, and you're
absolutely correct, and that's why we said that he's stoat
only just in terms of the environment, but also the economy.
It doesn't make any sense to have, you know, a
ninety year plus bridge that wasn't built for it having
these types of substances cross and we we have alternatives saying,
that's just unbelievable that you know, this miss Department of
(03:50):
Michigan and you know has approved it. But they did
so if you look at their study after even reviewing
their entire areas. And so I've called for the release
of all provincial and federal studies and they have not
yet done that. There's only one reference we can find
that was done. So quite frankly, it's quite likely that
the doug Ford government and the Trueau government have not
done any full analysis of the houses, material trucks or
(04:13):
where they go into the community in an assessment of that.
The City Windsor has issued a proclamation against this. The
council did they send it to our MPs and I
was the only one who made submission against it into
them dot review. And you know, it doesn't take into
account the trucks and city streets. We're not even really
talking about right now. We're just focusing on the bridge.
(04:34):
But these are tens of thousands trucks and they are
now going to be reintroduced into the city streets because
we don't connect rebectly into the poor one right now,
which is.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Exactly what we've been, you know, working so hard to
stop having happened over the past number of years, getting
towards the Gordy Howe opening up. But hey, can we
shift gears just a little bit here if you don't
mind my automotive talk Right there, we have, of course
NDP leader jug Meet saying ripping up the supply and
confidence agreement with the Liberals we heard about that a
couple days ago. Love to get your perspective as to
(05:02):
where things stand now.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah, so essentially, you know, we've got everything we should
have had an agreement. There's a few minor things that
have to be completed. But we felt with all the
different types of decisions that are being made and not
getting the government to act on them, it was time
to move away from that. And the Prime Minister and
the Liberal Party have let Canadians down not only just
on affordability, but a few other issues. And we couldn't
(05:25):
stand with the current situation because it wasn't really benefiting
what people have sent us to out of what to do,
and that's making life more affordable and to stand up
for issues. And I can't think of a more better
example than this border issue with the Ambassador Bridge, where
we have an American billionaire and the state of Mission Michigan,
you know, basically dictating that we'll have trucks of houses
(05:45):
material and you know the windsor exisen of community and
we're not fighting against it. So there's a series of
repertoire of things. And so we're going to go back
to Ottawa, will work to try to get things done.
But at the same time they just can't count on
the supply confidence motion anymore because those objectives for pharmacare
dental care are a pretty much done, and that's why
we want to actually go and get more for Canadians
(06:06):
while we can.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Is there a risk though, that this might empower the
block to give them a bit more power and shift
the focus away from more of the measures that you're
looking to see.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
No, yea alutely, there's always a definite consequence to this,
There's no doubt about it. In fact, Pierre Palev and
the Conservatives voted with Justin Trueau many many times. They
didn't put members in the House to do their full
voting because they were going through their leadership issues with
Aaron O'Toole and Andrew Sheer and so Forthe we'll forget
about that, is that many times that the Conservatives supported
(06:36):
Justin Trudeau and there was no compromise to get anything.
We went into the supply confidence agreement to get things done,
being the dental care, of Pharmacare, anti scab legislation and
so forth, and those things are pretty much completed now
and that's why we're going to stract something for the
confidence of the government, so that Gain can actually reignite.
So the Conservatives, for all their bluster, they could eventually
(06:58):
go back to doing what they did before. In fact,
justin Trudeau support is Stephen Harper over one hundred times
during Harper's minority Parliament or the Block could actually do
that as well too. So doesn't mean we're going to
an election right away. There's lots of scenarios. Does open
the opportunity though, for more possibilities of an election.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Hey, well, getting closer and closer to an election is
one of those things. Death taxes, elections, They're going to happen.
There's not much you can do about it. One thing though,
that did pop up. I was wondering, and I spoke
yesterday with President of Friends of Ojibway, Mike Fisher about
the Ojibway National Urban Park and your bill specifically, and
if we are getting closer to an election, what are
(07:37):
the risks for Ojiboy National Urban Park if an election
is called and your bill dies on the floor. And
I know that there had been money allocated from the
other side through the Park's Canada process, but is there
a risk at all of the entire Ojibway National Urban
Park process being derailed if things don't get done before
an election.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, first, I want want to say that Mike Fisher
and friends of the Jibwey have done a proramal work
and I want to thank them for everything and continue
to work with them and to get things done. But yes,
that was always a case though the bill C two
four eight a jib National Earm Park was never part
of a supply confidence motion. In fact, it was one
of the first pieces of legislation to get out of
the House of Commons to the Senate floor and didn't
(08:15):
get a lot of movement, so we put more pressure
on it and so that is at risk. But we're
working really hard and I'm working with all political parties
including the Minister's office right now to do some changes
to the bill so it can get through the Senate
and then from the Senate it would go to the
House of Commons. So that risk was always there and
has been there because again it wasn't part of the
supply confidence but it is you know, basically susceptible to
(08:38):
how long a government lasts because private members business has
to be redone for it. So hopefully this will actually
put more pressure to actually get it done where I
wanted it done over a year ago. There wasn't that
political desire at some points to get it passed. And
perhaps this will actually speed the process up because there'll
be more focused so we have a solution for some
(08:58):
of the problems that are being presented in front of
the bill, and we're going to actually be putting them
forward to the Senate. We'll be doing that and then
hoping to get it to the House. So it actually
could even speed things up because the urgency is there regardless.
The Gordy Howi International Bridge is opening up, and so
we don't have time to pool around with this, and
it's unfortunate it's taken so long, but we got to
get it done and know Parliament will last forever. And
(09:19):
at the same time, it wasn't moving because nobody was
taking it seriously enough. And again it was a part
of the agreement because the bill was introduced after that
agreement was done.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Okay, and I guess last question on the same file. Then,
with the funding that has been provided right now in
the current budget for the next five years that allocates
towards creating the process, I'm presuming that all of the
money wasn't handed over at once, and that let's say,
if there is a Conservative government that comes in, they
could cancel the following four years of funding if they wanted.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
To, absolutely, and that's always been a risk and one
of the reasons I want legislation. In fact, if the
government wants to right now, they could even actually do
a ordering councilor past this. So you know, I haven't
talked about that too much. You're the first person to
really ask these the deep questions on this issue. And
the reality is that this could actually move through as
a legisation if they wanted at some point as well too,
(10:11):
So there's a variety of things that can take place
out of there to get it done. But there is
no doubt that if it doesn't have legislation, then it's
susceptible to other governments and what they decide. That's always
going to be the case no matter what other governments
to come in and cut funding for programs and services.
That's our fear over the Conservatives, because they haven't committed
to pharmacare they haven't committed to dental care. They'm committed
(10:34):
to a series of things, the automotive funds and so forth.
So that is on the table for everything for a
new government.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's the reason why pressure needs to be kept up
on your elected officials for the things that people here
at the audience that you're listening for, that you care about,
whether it be a national urban park or any other
things that you are striving to see or elected reps
push forward. Brian, thank you for breaking this down for us.
It doesn't sound like it's all doom and gloom yet,
but people should be still out there volunteering and making
themselves heard because time is running shorter than it was
(11:06):
a few days ago.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yes, and thank you very much. And I would just
encourage that we can continue to fight for the things
that are important person. Let's get them done now. Well
I wait for later.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Absolutely, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Brian Massey is our Member of Parliament for Windsor West
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