The Windsor–Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA; french: Autorité du pont Windsor-Détroit) is the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

federal

Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

responsible for administering the construction of the

Gordie Howe International Bridge The Gordie Howe International Bridge (french: Pont International Gordie-Howe), known during development as the Detroit River International Crossing and the New International Trade Crossing, is a cable-stayed international bridge across the Det ...

between

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

and

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. Once the bridge is complete the WDBA will also manage the bridge's operation, including setting and collecting tolls.

Lisa Raitt Lisa Sarah MacCormack Raitt (born May 7, 1968) is a former Canadian politician who served as a Cabinet of Canada, federal Cabinet minister and Member of Parliament (Canada), member of Parliament (MP) from 2008 to 2019. A member of the Conservativ ...

, then-

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

, appointed Michael Cautillo,

Mark R. McQueen Mark McQueen is the President and CEO of CIBC Innovation Banking, who has been appointed to high-profile positions of public trust related to transport. In 2009, he was appointed chair of the Toronto Port Authority, and in 2014 he was appointed ...

, William Graham, and

Caroline Mulroney Lapham Caroline Anne Mulroney Lapham (born June 11, 1974) is a Canadian businesswoman, lawyer and politician who currently serves as the Ontario Minister of Transportation and Minister of Francophone Affairs. Born in Montreal, Quebec, she is the dau ...

as the first

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the WDBA. 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 The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bo ...

'' noted that none of them had local ties to the Windsor region.

Tom Mulcair Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

leader and then- Leader of the Official Opposition in the

Canadian Parliament The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...

, noted that three of the first four appointees were donors to the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. On January 1, 2016, retired Provincial Liberal Minister

Dwight Duncan Dwight Duncan (born 3 January 1959) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2013 who represented ridings of Windsor—Walkerville, Windsor—St. Clair and Windsor� ...

was appointed to be the interim chair of the Board. On December 14, 2016, he was appointed to a five-year term as the Board's permanent chair.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority Canadian federal Crown corporations Canada–United States border Transportation in Detroit Transport in Windsor, Ontario