Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority
| Crown corporation | |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Windsor, Ontario, Canada |
Key people |
|
| Owner | Government of Canada |
| Website |
wdbridge |
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA; French: Autorité du pont Windsor-Détroit) is the Canadian federal Crown corporation responsible for administering the construction and management of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Once the bridge is complete, the WDBA will also set and collect the bridge tolls.[1]
Lisa Raitt, then-Minister of Transport, appointed Michael Cautillo, Mark R. McQueen, William Graham, and Caroline Mulroney Lapham as the first board of directors of the WDBA.[2][3] Of the board members, Cautillo was appointed the authority's president and CEO and McQueen was appointed chairman of the board. While recognizing that the individuals first appointed to the body on July 30, 2014, all had strong financial expertise, the Windsor Star noted that none of them had local ties to the Windsor region.[3]
Tom Mulcair, New Democratic Party leader and then-Leader of the Official Opposition in the Canadian Parliament, noted that three of the first four appointees were donors to the Conservative Party of Canada.[4]
References
- ↑ "About the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority". Who We Are. Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
- ↑ Claire Brownell (2014-07-30). "Canada, U.S. form new agency to push forward on Detroit-Windsor crossing". Financial Post. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
The appointees to the Bridge Authority’s board are Michael Cautillo, Bridge Authority president and CEO; Mark McQueen, chairman of the board; William Graham, director; and Caroline Mulroney Lapham, director and daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney.
- 1 2 Dave Battagello (2014-07-30). "DRIC bridge executive teams loaded with financial expertise, but nobody local". Windsor Star.
The bridge authority will oversee the construction, operation and maintenance of the bridge. That includes preparing the sites and managing the procurement process to select a private-sector partner that will carry out the work. The authority will also set and collect tolls.
- ↑ "HYPOCRISY ALERT: Mulroney-style patronage from Stephen Harper's Conservatives". New Democratic Party of Canada. 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
All three are donors to the Conservative Party. Perhaps as homage to the previous king of Tory patronage, Conservatives have made Brian Mulroney’s daughter Caroline their latest patronage appointment.