Windsor, Ont., mayor Drew Dilkens wants the city to begin collecting tolls on trucks headed to and from the Ambassador Bridge via Huron Church Road until the new border crossing opens. In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Dilkens called for the province to provide an exemption under section 40 of the Municipal Act, in an effort to put less of the road maintenance on the city’s taxpayers. Speaking to CTV News Wednesday evening, Dilkens said council and residents are tired of being “an open chequebook.” “This is so atypical for a municipality to have to spend this type of money on issues that are really of a federal nature, that I need someone’s help here,” Dilkens said. The statement points to community efforts leading to the construction of the Herb Gray Parkway and the Gordie Howe International Bridge. In 2017, the federal government issued a permit for the Ambassador Bridge to expand its operations, which Dilkens said ultimately cost the city $3 million in engineering studies and reviews. “We’re spending millions of dollars a year to maintain this road that suffers the barrage of trucks each and every day and gets worn down year over year at the cost of municipal taxpayers to fix,” Dilkens said. Unsure of how steep a toll rate may be, Dilkens said he wants enforcement to begin in May. If approved by the province, the proposal could see a toll booth on Huron Church Road, with transport trucks stopping to pay the fare. Dilkens noted the tolls would end after the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which is expected to draw much of the region’s commercial traffic. The timeline for the bridge’s opening was recently put into question after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to prevent it until the U.S. is “fully compensated for everything” it has given to Canada. Trump’s comments came hours after Matthew Moroun, whose family has operated the Ambassador Bridge for decades, reportedly met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. “So, if there’s going to be barriers put up to the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, guess what? We want to make sure that our expenses are made whole,” Dilkens said. CTV News has reached out to the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. Dilkens said he’s expecting his proposal to be part of discussions when Ford travels to Windsor on Thursday. Dilkens’ full statement is available here.
