Carney says he could have been more clear about Gordie Howe bridge deal with U.S.

CHARLOTTETOWN – Prime Minister Mark Carney says he could have done a better job of explaining the details of a deal that will see the Gordie Howe International Bridge open to traffic between Ontario and Michigan next week.

The proposed agreement in principle for the Gordie Howe International Bridge confirms that Canada will share half of net toll revenues with the U.S. for the first 15 years.

The document says Canada’s payments will be made to a United States-Canada Economic Development Fund controlled by the U.S. government.

Carney had said on previous occasions that tolls will not be split with the United States until after Canada’s debt to build the bridge is paid back.

Speaking to reporters in Charlottetown Thursday, the prime minister said he was referring to the original agreement with Michigan, which remains in place and will see tolls split with the state after Canada is paid back decades from now.

Carney acknowledged he was not as clear as he could have been when explaining the nature of the deal in recent weeks.

“Could I have explained it better on a Sunday morning at Stampede? Yeah. With a cowboy hat on? Yes, I could have explained it better,” he said. 

Conservatives have accused the prime minister of caving to the United States to get the bridge open and misinforming Canadians about the plan to split tolls.

Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar argued at a news conference in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday that the government “lied.”

“We’ve seen the admission that this has not been the deal that was promised,” he said. “This is now in the string of one-and-a-half years of concession after concession that the prime minister has made … The prime minister has made Canada vulnerable to ad hoc negotiations by an aggressive United States administration.”

Speaking to reporters, Majumdar said that while Carney has the Conservatives’ sympathy when it comes to dealing with a tough and unpredictable negotiator in the United States, he shouldn’t be obscuring the facts on the Gordie Howe Bridge.

NDP MP Heather McPherson said in an email Wednesday that the bridge is critical public infrastructure and Canadians “deserve to know exactly what is happening with it.”

“Mark Carney could have prevented much of this confusion if his government had simply been transparent and clear with Canadians from the beginning,” she said. “Instead, Canadians were given vague and opaque answers by their own government and, at times, had to turn to American media to get basic information about an agreement between our two countries.”

The federal government said Tuesday that in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, Canada will not be celebrating the opening of the bridge with the United States.

Trump threatened Monday to hit an array of Canadian products with 50 per cent tariffs in 30 days. American officials said the new levies are a response to provincial bans on U.S. alcohol, Canada’s supply-managed dairy system and quotas on American cars.

Carney said he spoke with Trump on Tuesday morning and they agreed to intensify trade negotiations.

A Canada-only bridge opening event is expected to take place Friday and the bridge is still set to open Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2026.