The following is an open letter sent to David L. Cohen, Ambassador from the United States to Canada Embassy of the United States of America, from Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski.
Dear Ambassador,
I am writing to follow up on the productive conversation we had in early June at your reception held by the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group. As you will recall, we discussed several issues of shared concern to our two countries.
The first issue I would like to remind your excellency of is the need for a joint U.S.-Canadian effort to repair or replace the Fort Frances-International Falls International Bridge. This bridge is of the utmost importance to the communities of Fort Frances, Ontario and International Falls, Minnesota. The bridge is nearing the end of its life, and will require a coordinated effort of all levels of Canadian and American government to come to a successful agreement for its replacement or renewal. In the short term, the private ownership of the bridge and its deteriorating condition have resulted in a tripling of the price to cross, putting a strain on the communities on both sides of the border. I have spoken to Senator Klobuchar about this issue, and we found agreement broadly in the need for coordinated action to be taken to solve this problem and for the result to be a publicly owned international bridge.
Another issue of shared concern that we discussed in our meeting was that of the flooding of the Rainy River Basin, an area along the Ontario-Minnesota border. In light of the damage caused by the flooding in this region in 2022, Senator Klobuchar and myself agree that a ‘government request’ submitted by the U.S. and Canada for the IJC to study future flooding risk would be prudent. As you rightly pointed out, this request must be made jointly by the U.S. and Canada for such a study to be undertaken.
Lastly, we briefly discussed the issue of fishing along the Ontario-Minnesota border. The tempers among Canadian outfitters have been becoming increasingly heated toward U.S. fishing tourers coming to Canada, with a perception that rules are being violated and that reciprocity is not being respected. I would like to see both of our governments working to bring the temperature down on this issue before it escalates further.
Thank you for your consideration of these important issues.
Yours sincerely,
Marcus Powlowski,
MP Thunder Bay- Rainy River
