Mr Speaker, in response to part (a), there are no plans to issue additional reimbursements to the City of Windsor beyond the eligible expenses totaling $6,094,915 provided via an ex gratia payment issued in 2023.
With respect to part (b), the Government of Canada does not have a view regarding financial issues between the Province and Ontario municipalities in this regard.
With regard to part (c), Public Safety Canada officials reviewed the City of Windsor’s claimed expenses against the Nation's Capital Extraordinary Policing Costs Program terms and conditions, the details of which can be found on the website at publicsafety.gc.ca, and concluded that most would be eligible for reimbursement. This Program’s Terms and Conditions were applied equally to municipalities to determine eligible expenses. In the case of Windsor all expenses were deemed eligible save for the lost Windsor Transit revenues which were ineligible.
The only exception pertained to $1,780,983.00 in legal fees and legal support incurred by Windsor for Ambassador Bridge blockage-related injunctions and for obtaining legal support in preparation for the Emergencies Act Commission of Inquiry. Legal expenses are out of the program’s terms and conditions scope, however and exceptionally, partial reimbursement,in other words, a 50/50 split between the municipality and the federal government, was made due to their extraordinary and unforeseen nature. This formula was applied to other municipalities as well.