Ambassador Bridge reopens late Sunday after protesters cleared
BNN Bloomberg
The Ambassador Bridge that links Canada with the U.S. has reopened, clearing the largest trade artery between the two countries after a five-day protest shut it down.
The Ambassador Bridge that links Canada with the U.S. has reopened, clearing the largest trade artery between the two countries after a five-day protest shut it down.
“Normal border processing has resumed at the Ambassador Bridge,” the Canada Border Services Agency said on Twitter.
The reopening came after local police and officers from the Province of Ontario and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police slowly and methodically pushed protesters from the foot of the bridge up Huron Church Road starting Saturday. With the road cleared, police worked to remove barriers positioned to prevent the protest from growing and to get Canada’s border agency staff to the bridge.
“Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge came to an end,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said earlier in a statement. “Border crossings will reopen when it is safe to do so and I defer to police and border agencies to make that determination.”
Canadian authorities were planning to reopen the bridge after completing necessary safety checks, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall said in a statement.
Restarting traffic across the bridge after the week-long crisis is essential to both the U.S. and Canadian economies. The protest halted the transport of US$13.5 million an hour in traded goods and forced automakers to reduce production or cancel shifts at plants in Ontario and Michigan.
