[LINK] "New Windsor-Detroit bridge may cost $3.5B more due to low loonie"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star carries a Canadian Press article suggesting that the weakening dollar means a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor will cost substantially more than initially estimated.

The federal Liberal government will need to find $3.5 billion more to pay for a new bridge at the bustling border crossing between Canada and the United States.

Documents show Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been warned that the cost of building the new Windsor-Detroit bridge has likely gone up by at least $2 billion, thanks to the declining value of the Canadian dollar.

Government officials told Trudeau the project would also need an extra $1.5 billion in a contingency fund to bear the shock of any interest-rate increases should the loonie decline further against its American counterpart.

The government’s long-term fiscal framework has the price of the bridge, to be named after hockey legend Gordie Howe, pegged at $4.8 billion.

The details are laid out in a secret briefing note to Trudeau obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.