By Joel Thurtell
Matty’s bait has a rotten smell, and I don’t plan to chew on it.
That’s why you won’t read joelontheroad fussing over Matty’s lawsuit claiming a proposed government-owned alternative to his private Ambassador bridge is racially discriminatory. Nor will you find me arguing the pros and cons of dumping dirt on his tarmac.
Those disputes are diversions created by the Grosse Pointe billionaire to distract us from the central issue: Why does one man control a choke point that passes one quarter of the annual trade between Canada and the United States?
One billionaire megolomaniac who collected tolls from 2.89 million trucks last year (well, minus the tolls he didn’t collect from trucks he owns) and 4.45 million cars, yet won’t let government officials and police inspect his bridge or the vehicles that use it.
Matty’s legal and polemical red herrings would become moot if the federal government would 1) condemn the Ambassador Bridge as a public nuisance of the 9/11 variety, given the 300,000-gallon bomb consisting of gasoline and diesel fuel he stores directly underneath the span or 2) seize the bridge for public use, forcibly purchasing the bridge for a fair-market-value price.
Either one or both of these actions combined would show Matty’s lawsuits and public posturings for what they are — fish bait.
Last gasp tactics by a mogul with his back to the, well, bridge.
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
