LANSING – With an eye toward making Michigan a global trading hub, State Representative John Espinoza (D-Croswell) and his House colleagues today announced a plan to create an agency that would help Michigan communities capitalize on international trade, attract 21st-century investments and create jobs in Michigan.
We want to send a clear message: Come to Michigan if you want to be a leader in global trade," said Espinoza, whose district includes the Blue Water Bridge linking Port Huron with Sarnia, Ontario. "We do twice more trade with Canada than our entire nation does with Japan each year. With a border authority, we can capture economic value from the abundance of trade and turn it into good-paying jobs for our communities."
The plan will create the publicly owned Michigan Border Development and Protection Authority, which will craft strategies to maximize economic development opportunities in the three Canada-U.S. border communities of southwest Detroit, Port Huron and Sault Ste. Marie. The MBDPA can propose bond issues, suggest tax incentives, address traffic issues and recruit companies to communities within 1 mile of an international crossing. The MBDPA will also set tolls and issue permits allowing Michigan's three international crossings to operate. The MBDPA could also incorporate nearby airports such as Metro Detroit and Willow Run airports into an "aerotropolis," or industrial-commercial-transportation hubs.
Michigan currently does not have an integrated authority that partners state government with business entities and local communities along the state's international border with Canada. As a result, trade – and jobs – frequently bypasses Michigan communities and head elsewhere, such as Chicago, Indianapolis and Toledo.
Michigan and Canada do more than $160 billion in trade each year, much of it through Detroit and Port Huron. The Canadian government has already established an authority that parallels the MBDPA.