Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank my colleagues for convening this important meeting. It is indeed important to discuss everything the opposition wants to talk about, so this is welcome.
I'd like to start by correcting a few points.
First of all, I know this was raised during the points of order, but the agreement has been released. The original 2012 agreement was made public quite a while ago. Also, the agreement in principle was released a week ago, on July 22. So, it has been released, and everyone can access it, including members of this committee as well as the opposition parties' research offices.
Second, it's ironic to hear some of my colleagues say that the Prime Minister is trying to mislead Canadians when, from the beginning of this meeting, they've been talking about gross toll revenues, when they know full well that we are talking about net revenues. We know they've read it. We know they're doing very good work and have done their homework. Now we're talking about toll revenues after operating costs have been deducted. The Prime Minister was very clear about that. Here we're talking about operating costs, which include things like maintenance, insurance, toll booths and snow clearing. That's the second point I wanted to correct. I want everyone to know exactly what we're talking about. We're not talking about the gross revenues that the bridge authority will bring in. We're actually talking about the net revenues after all the operating costs have been deducted.
The third point I want to correct is my colleagues' offensive insinuations that the Prime Minister tried to deliberately mislead Canadians. The Prime Minister has been very clear. He has clarified his remarks. He made it very clear that, throughout all the discussions, the agreement signed by the prime minister in 2012 has not changed.
I would ask my colleague opposite to let me continue. He's interrupting me, but I showed him respect and listened while he was speaking. It'd be nice if he could show me the same respect and listen to me. Thank you very much.
Half of all revenues will go to regional development for a period of 15 years. We've already discussed net revenues, so I won't go over that again. However, the agreement signed in 2012 remains intact and unchanged. That's important, because at the end of the 15 years, the agreement remains in place. It continues. That doesn't change. The bridge will still be owned by Michigan and the Government of Canada. The agreement in principle means that funds will go into an economic development fund to support trade between Canada and the Detroit region. I think it's important that everyone understand these points.
The bridge is open. It opened two days ago. My colleagues talked about the fiscal impact. About 7,500 vehicles crossed the bridge in the first 12 hours. That's a lot.
The fund will support investment in initiatives to encourage and increase traffic along this corridor. As I think my colleague mentioned, everyone is well aware of the vitality of this corridor and its importance to members on both sides who are from that area. Seventy billion dollars' worth of trade between Ontario and the United States each year... Much of that will cross this bridge. Three hundred billion dollars' worth of trade currently crosses the Ambassador Bridge every year.
That bridge needed to be modernized. Now users have modern facilities that will allow trucks passing through the region to be processed much faster. It also means much safer facilities, which will make it possible to detect the transportation of illegal goods. I think that's also important to note.
There's all of this. My colleague, very rightly so, talked about the marvel of this piece of engineering, about all of the work and the workers who contributed to this, and about how that contributed to our economy during the years of construction.
I think what's interesting here is that we're hearing from the other side about continued criticism of the government's actions. However, I have not heard what they would have done differently, given this context.
How long would you have been willing to keep this bridge unopened—one year, two years, six months?