Windsor city councillors are angry, and they're not being shy about it.
After agreeing to pay the entire cost of policing the Freedom Convoy blockade at the Ambassador Bridge and keeping the trade corridor open in the following weeks, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino announced $6,995,406 in funding in December 2022.
Four months later, the federal body asked the city for a full accounting.
Then, this past September, the Mayor's Office received a letter saying the federal government would only cover $6,094,915, leaving the city on the hook for $900,491.
"Someone along the way said, you know what, we're actually only going to give you a cheque for $6-million. You figure out the next $900,000," said Mayor Drew Dilkens.
He is livid.
"This letter is a middle finger to the people in our community," he told councillors on Monday night. "They're saying you pick up a million dollars of the cost when at a municipal level, we were required to provide an immediate response for an incident that clearly wasn't a municipal issue."
The week-long blockade started on February 7, 2022, when protesters blocked Huron Church Road between Tecumseh Road East and the entrance to the Ambassador Bridge to show their anger at COVID-19 restrictions and mandates.
The City of Windsor sought an injunction to end the demonstration on February 11, and police services coordinated their response to clear the area on February 12 and 13.
The blockade brought trade over the Ambassador Bridge to a halt and forced manufacturing plants to cut shifts short or close.
Huron Church remained closed for an additional two weeks to ensure the protesters did not return.
During the public inquiry into the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act, Finance Minister Crystia Freeland testified the blockade hurt the country's international reputation.
Officials at the hearing lauded Windsor's response.
"To leave the people in our community on the hook for $900,000 -- is among the most offensive things I have ever seen," said Dilkens. "The people in this city should be calling their MP and demanding action from their Member of Parliament."
Windsor West MP Brian Masse has already written a letter to the current Public Safety Minister, Dominic Leblanc.
"As the City of Windsor is entering its budgeting process for the new year, this shortfall, if not reimbursed by the Government of Canada, will result in cuts to municipal services that the residents depend on," he wrote. "It is imperative that the Government of Canada live up to its commitment made almost a year ago to cover all the expenses the City of Windsor incurred for the benefit of all Canadians and ensure that local taxpayers and residents are not negatively impacted by this service they did for our country."
Ward 8 Councillor Gary Kaschuk went further, suggesting the federal government shouldn't take the border crossings in Windsor for granted.
"For them to short-change us almost a million dollars is really a shame," he said. "In my opinion, there should be some type of municipal annual stipend that's given to a border community like Windsor for what they do in moving traffic from a federal facility into the municipality."
He suggested the introduction of a Crown Corporation for border communities.
Council passed a motion to include his recommendation in a letter that calls on Ottawa to reimburse the entire cost of responding to the Ambassador Bridge blockade.
