Gov’t Memo Shows Ambassador Bridge Blockade Cost Significantly Less Than What Feds Said

Traffic flows over the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit on Feb. 14, 2022, after protesters blocked the major border crossing for nearly a week in Windsor, Ontario. Paul Sancya/AP Photo

Internal government documents show the costs incurred during the Ambassador Bridge blockade earlier this year were much lower than what the federal government stated publicly.

At a press conference on Feb. 14—the day the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act—Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters that the protest blocking the Windsor, Ontario, crossing to Detroit cost the Canadian economy nearly $400 million a day.

“The blockade of the Ambassador Bridge has affected about $390 million in trade each day,” Freeland said. “This bridge supports 30 percent of all trade by road between Canada and the United States, our most important trading partner.”

“Those costs are real,” she said, while also mentioning the impact resulting from the blockades at the border crossings at Coutts, Alberta, and Emerson, Manitoba. “They threaten businesses big and small. And they threaten the livelihoods of Canadian workers, just as we are all working so hard to recover from the economic damage caused by COVID.”

Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland appears as a witness at a House of Commons finance committee in Ottawa on Oct. 3, 2022. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The blockade at Ambassador Bridge lasted six days, from Feb. 8 to Feb. 13. The protest was one of several inspired by the Freedom Convoy protest that started in late January against the federal government’s requirement that all truck drivers crossing the Canada–U.S. border need to have COVID-19 vaccination.

Police cleared the Ambassador Bridge prior to cabinet’s invocation of the Emergencies Act. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a state of emergency on Feb. 11, and threatened to fine protesters $100,000 and up to a year of imprisonment.

Actual Losses

A memo issued by the federal Department of Transport on Feb. 11 and obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter said the claim of economic impact of “around $390 million of trade per day” represented the average amount of commercial shipments in the previous year, not the actual losses due to the blockade.

“[The Bridge] handled over $140 billion in merchandise trade in 2021, approximately $390 million each day,” said the memo, titled “Background on the Impact of a Road Blockade at the Ambassador Bridge.”

“It is estimated that the cost to the Canadian economy of a full shutdown of the Bridge would likely be in the range of $45 million per day over the first week based on current mitigation efforts put in place by shippers and available alternative options.”

The memo noted that from Feb. 7 to Feb. 10, the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge “has diverted traffic away to nearby crossings” at Sarnia, Fort Erie, and Queenston, Ontario. In addition, the estimated $45 million lost a day comes with the “scenario [assuming that] the automotive sector shuts down,” which it didn’t.

The memo also provided an “extreme case” example in which the impact could hit from $86 million a day to $161 million a day—less than half the figure cited by the federal government.

“This scenario assumes the disruption of imports and exports crossing the Ambassador Bridge leads to widespread shutdowns and production outages across the Canadian economy,” staff wrote. That scenario never occurred.

In April, the federal government announced that more than $2.5 million would be provided to compensate over 200 Windsor business owners affected by the blockade. Eligible businesses can receive up to $10,000 in non-repayable funds to cover their losses.

A separate federal memo obtained by Blacklock’s noted that the compensation fund was under-subscribed, with only 60 applying for a total payment of $462,469.