[LMich]

Looks like the whole Chinese steel issue might have been a dirty trick, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was Moroun's people spreading the rumor:

Chinese steel in bridge? It's fiction, Canadian diplomat says

By Rochelle Riley | Detroit Free Press Columnist

June 6, 2012

This is so not about Chinese steel.

The latest allegation in the hotly contested battle between Gov. Rick Snyder and businessman Manuel (Matty) Moroun over building a second bridge across the Detroit River was that Michigan and Canada were at odds over whether to use domestic or Chinese steel for the project.

Canada Consul General Roy Norton dismissed that Tuesday as fabricated fiction, part of an onslaught of disinformation and outright lies in the bridge debate. "Anybody familiar with the discussions knows that there is no such issue as Chinese steel," Norton told a group of tri-county leaders Tuesday at the Detroit Port Authority. Ironically, over his shoulder, the clogged Ambassador Bridge loomed, trucks and cars stalled back-to-back.

"Chinese steel is not going to be used in the project," he said. "It's a complete, dare I say, red herring."

When asked why he didn't say anything sooner, Norton said no one in America asked him until I did Tuesday, and that Canadian officials had agreed to not discuss negotiations.

...

"In the struggle for public opinion, the Ambassador Bridge folks enjoy two comparative advantages," he said. "The first is that they're willing to spend almost any amount of money to sell their case. The second is their willingness to tell lies, not to put too fine a point on it -- and not just lies, but big lies. Call them Orwellian ... lies like black is white and white is black. They're inclusive. They even buy advertising to tell lies to viewers in Canada.

"As a result of that campaign, a significant portion of Michiganders think that this is going to be a hugely expensive bridge and that they, the taxpayers, are going to have to pay for it. Wrong, completely wrong. ... The bridge will cost half of what the TV commercials say. But it doesn't matter because the Canadian taxpayer will assume full liability. This is an offer we have never made to a developed country. Frankly, it shouldn't be necessary. This bridge should be as important to Michigan as it is to Canada."

Most important and left out of the debate, Norton said, is that Windsor officials will not allow the Moroun family to build its proposed bridge, a twin span to the Ambassador.

...