Windsor, Ont. Mayor Drew Dilkens is taking steps to “cut spending” on things such as a cross-border shuttle bus service and sponsorship of Detroit events “in the wake of tariff threats” from President Trump, according to Sherri Welch of CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS. Dilkens said that he has “paused” the city’s $50,000 sponsorship of the Detroit GP while the “threat of tariffs remains and is scrutinizing” the city’s $1B budget to “shift its sourcing contracts to Canadian companies.” A shuttle bus service that brings “tens of thousands” of Canadians from Windsor to Detroit each year is also “set to end.” Dilkens said that the Grand Prix sponsorship pause was an “easy move.” He said, “If the tariff goes away, the sponsorship continues” (CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS, 2/4).
WHY NOT? In Ontario, Taylor Campbell noted Dilkens “confirmed his plan to terminate Canada’s only cross-border public transit service using his first-ever mayoral budget veto.” Dilkens wrote online that Windsor’s tunnel bus “brings 40,000 people to Detroit to spend money every year.” He said, “Why would we want to subsidize economic development in the United States when their President is assaulting our communities?” Offering the cross-border transit service -- which “broke even until a few years ago” -- now costs the city more than $1.4M annually, “largely because of recently amended federal sick day legislation” (WINDSOR STAR, 2/3).
