Ambassador Bridge blockade response cost City of Windsor $5.7M

The City of Windsor is asking the federal and provincial governments to reimburse $5.7 million spent on the response to last month's blockade at the Ambassador Bridge.

The figure was included in a letter sent by Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens to Deputy Prime Minister and federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, and Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, on March 15.

"OPP and RCMP support was critical towards clearing the occupation in a peaceful and safe way and the commitment that your governments displayed at that time helped bolster all those, myself included, who were dealing with the emergency situation unfolding in our community," Dilkens wrote. "I am asking you to reaffirm that commitment with the appropriative financial support the City of Windsor requires to cover the costs associated with clearing the illegal occupation."

Access to the Ambassador Bridge was blocked the evening of Feb. 7 by truck drivers and others protesting against mask mandates.

A court injunction preventing anyone from blocking access to the bridge was granted on Feb. 11, and the blockade was cleared on Feb. 13.

In an interview with CBC News on Tuesday, Dilkens said about $5.1 million of the total was related to policing services.

A breakdown of costs obtained by CBC News shows the policing costs included $2.5 million in overtime, $1.3 million for jersey barriers, $540,000 each for meals and accommodations.

A further $130,000 was paid to bring in the London Police Service for support, and $100,000 was spent on miscellaneous policing-related costs.

The breakdown also shows the city paid:

"I believe that this is an exceptional event," Dilkens said. "We saw what happened in Ottawa and other places in Canada, and certainly the blockade that happened here, although it looked like it was just a one week event, that's when the heart of the protest was happening."

"But after that, the jersey barriers and all of the police officers that were here ... from across Canada to help maintain the integrity of that critical access road to the busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada, that cost money," he said. "There was no way around getting human resources here, boots on the ground, so to speak, to be able to provide the response required to make sure that the roadway could remain open, that trade could flow."

In his letter, Dilkens said that it would be "unreasonable" to expect municipal taxpayers to pay for the response alone.

"It should be noted that this funding request is subject to change as final invoices and charges are tallied, specifically any additional reciprocal costs associated with hosting members of various law enforcement agencies from across the province," the letter stated.

The letter also notes that Windsor is already facing a deficit of $25 million related to the municipality's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That deficit, Dilkens stated, is "driven largely by the operating costs of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel and Windsor International Airport, whose operations have been dramatically impacted by the ongoing public health crisis."