and amid a rising chorus of lawmakers
especially michigan elected leaders
calling for the ambassador bridge
blockade to end with these canadian
truckers who are protesting on it on
being joined by the mayor of windsor
canada drew dilkins uh mayor dilkins
thanks so much for being with us you
held a press conference
earlier today
and you're calling for an injunction
to get these truckers off the bridge and
to get the blockade over with what is
that injunction going to look like is
this the purview of the courts at this
point
yeah it really is so uh our team went to
court today the judge asked that we
convene again tomorrow at noon
after providing more notice to the
protesters and the public about this
injunctive hearing
and he will deal with the matter
tomorrow at noon and we're hopeful that
he does issue an injunction so that
police can then move forward
and do what needs to be done
uh who has the authority though to to
clear the bridge and to clear the border
to get traffic going again it's from my
understanding the aegis of canadian
authorities
yeah because most of the traffic we're
talking about is actually on the
municipal roadway just adjacent to the
bridge they're they're blocking people
from getting to and from the ambassador
bridge and so i really would be canadian
authorities and and our courts would
have jurisdiction here so we're hopeful
uh tomorrow the injunctive relief is
granted police will then be in a
different position to be able to
mobilize their resources which are uh
already here but all the also coming
from all over ontario and other parts of
canada to help support the on-the-ground
efforts of our windsor police service
you know you're probably hearing a lot
of uh statements and concerns from
american officials especially in
michigan on the other side of the border
including michigan governor gretchen
whitmer who is calling for an end to
this
have you been in touch with
governor whitmer have you been in touch
with mayor duggan of detroit what have
they told you have you sought their
advice on how to get this under control
well i haven't been in touch with them
directly but the governor's office has
reached out to canadian authorities and
uh have sent some information around
that they want to be very supportive and
they've offered some resources
if required and so i appreciate the
governor's gesture we may or may not
have to take her up on that offer but
it's great to know that it's available
and only only a bridge away from being
able to support the efforts on the
ground here in the city of windsor can
you go into the specifics of some of
those resources governor whitmer has
offered you what does that look like
well i think it's you know it's fair to
say that uh they are our equipment type
resources so if we're talking about
having to move 200
trucks and vehicles that we wouldn't
probably have enough resources on the
ground in the city of windsor and it
would be much easier to get that
equipment from the other side of the
border than to wait for it to come from
toronto or further afield
and so we'll see if it's required but at
the end of the day our primary hope our
primary goal uh is to have a peaceful
disbursement of this crowd to have them
leave on their own accord uh and they've
made their point we we understand what
they're saying we've made their point uh
and at the end of the day we need to get
commerce flowing again between michigan
and ontario we have to get these people
back to work uh in an auto sector that
has already been disadvantaged by the
global chip shortage and other
covet-related effects it is unfair to
their fellow
family members and other canadians that
they're holding hostage this border
crossing which is such a vital link for
international trade between the united
states and canada
right and mayor this is the largest and
busiest land border crossing between the
u.s
and canada and in north america it's
responsible for about a quarter of all
trade
between our two countries um and you're
in windsor and that is on the other side
at the base of the ambassador bridge
have you gone out have you spoken to
some of these truckers have you gotten
the sense of you know what their demands
are have you talked to them personally
i haven't police are are in touch with
them every single day and i debrief with
police uh and that is the interesting
question that you asked is why are they
here
and this originally started as a protest
by a certain group of trackers to to to
protest the federal government
restriction of having to she show a
covent test or a covet vaccine
to have a covet vaccine when they return
to canada and so
that was a very clear message we knew
who the group was
and
at the end of the day what's happened
now is a week later after the protest
started a week later the united states
federal government implemented the same
rules for truckers entering the u.s so
even if the original group got what they
want which is our federal government to
remove that rule they still wouldn't be
able to cross the border into the united
states uh and so this is this has really
turned into a leaderless movement and it
is no longer just about masks and
vaccines this is moved into more of a
g20 or g7 style government protest or
anti-government protest where people are
out protesting anything that government
does they're all protesting climate
change initiatives you you you bet that
this runs the gamut of different issues
that are being brought forward and
there's no leader to speak with to try
and coalesce uh agreement amongst the
group
that's right that was my next question
you know is this still centering solely
on anti-vaccine mandates and of course
what is the atmosphere in canada in
windsor uh of covet restrictions because
that's how this started they
are protesting covert 19 especially
vaccine mandates and restrictions uh you
know do other leaders in canada
including the prime minister uh justin
trudeau are they showing any signs that
they will you know maybe concede to some
of these demands from these truckers in
lifting some of those restrictions to
get this protest movement under control
you know i i don't see any movement at
the federal level in that regard but at
the provincial level what we've seen in
the province of alberta uh the province
of saskatchewan just in the last week
you see those provincial governments
start announcing that they're going to
release or remove some of the kobe
restrictions that were in place uh and
so they're they've indicated that there
will be an easing forthcoming some of it
started immediately uh we haven't seen
that here in ontario but i know our
premier uh is eager to get there he
doesn't like all these restrictions
either and he'd prefer to let people
make their own decisions but we're not
quite there yet
you know we just spoke with one of our
uh reporters in detroit uh who is at the
protest on the detroit side uh he was
speaking with protesters and one of the
main kind of uh you know refrains and
courses from these truckers is they want
more freedom kind of indicating to what
you had said that this is moving away
from solely an anti-vaccine mandate
protest have you been in touch with the
prime minister at all about you know his
thoughts about this has he offered his
support
i haven't spoken with the prime minister
directly on this i've spoken with the
premier many times uh in the last couple
of days but i have spoken with senior
members and ministers of the federal
government the public safety minister
and many others who have offered support
and they certainly understand what the
challenges are because they're in ottawa
and they see what's going on in the
streets in ottawa which is even an even
larger demonstration of the same types
of individuals and so you know at the
end of the day uh there there's an
element here of of concern because there
has been some uh threats of violence uh
by the protesters you have people who
have outright said that they are willing
to die for this cause uh which on the
ground raises the temperature of the
response and police are taking a very
cautious approach we don't want anyone
to get hurt anyone injured as a result
of this protest but something has to
give we have to get
international trade flowing again and to
the extent that they're willing to let
go of at least a lane of traffic in each
direction so so trucks can move we will
find a way to allow them to continue to
do their protest provided that they
allow international traffic to continue
to move mayor the owner of the
ambassador bridge maddie maroons he's
also calling on canadian authorities to
end this he owns the bridge uh we're
also learning as well that many of these
auto manufacturing plants in the area on
both sides of the border
have either had to
you know stop production for the week or
scale back production what do you tell
auto workers both you know in canada and
michigan uh who are not at work right
now because of this
guys we are doing the best that we can
and i feel the pain i'm the mayor of the
automotive capital of canada and i know
very very well that our supply chains in
the auto sector are so tightly
integrated that the average part that
goes into a car crosses the border about
six times before it rolls off the finish
line
and so i know how important this border
is and there's no one that wants to see
the border open more uh than me and
we're doing everything we can from a
municipal level uh to make that happen
but this is going to require and we
we're seeing provincial and federal
federal
resources sent down here it is going to
require additional support beyond the
municipal support that we can offer
and lastly do you think at this point in
time that this is hurting u.s canada
relations at the moment both you know
diplomatically and economically i i
don't think so i mean we've had such a
strong relationship of for well over you
know probably 150 years a five day or
four day protest at this point uh isn't
going to hurt things uh on that front
but i think we have a shared goal and
that's to get the border open and get
our economies humming once again and
what does this look like tomorrow the
next day and into the weekend what do
you think
well we're going to see what happens
tomorrow at noon when we go back to
court to to see what the judge says with
respect to the injunction uh and then
police will have to coordinate their
resources accordingly and and see how
they're going to move forward and at the
end of the day i still submit that we
want to see a peaceful end and a
resolution to this with the protesters
going away or at least working with us
to provide a lane of traffic in each
direction so inter international traffic
can move well their protest would be
respected