The Canadian government has released the full agreement for the Gordie Howe International Bridge after the Conservative Party pushed for it to be made public. The document shows terms that don't match what Prime Minister Mark Carney told Canadians about how the bridge's money would be handled.

The Globe and Mail obtained and reported on the agreement exclusively. The Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Globe and Mail.

Canada paid $6.4-billion to build the bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont. The agreement says Canada will split the bridge's revenues equally with the United States for the first 15 years of operation. Revenues are divided after operating costs are deducted — but not after deducting the cost of paying off the debt from building the bridge. The agreement does not include a clause that would let Canada cover those debt costs first.

That directly contradicts what Carney said publicly. On July 12, Carney told CTV News that the bridge's debt would be paid off before any revenue split. On July 16, he said Canada will not share bridge tolls with the United States until the bridge debt is repaid, and that the original 2012 agreement with Michigan had not changed.

The agreement also gives the United States veto power over some toll rate changes. The U.S. share of the money will go into an economic development fund "established and solely controlled by the Government of the United States."

Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar, who pushed for the agreement's release, said it shows Carney "capitulated" and "misled Canadians."

The bridge is publicly owned by the governments of Canada and Michigan under a 2012 agreement. Ottawa first mentioned the existence of a side deal on July 10 with a brief press release that did not mention the revenue split with the United States.

The agreement's release follows a months-long standoff over the bridge's opening. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to block the opening of the bridge, prompting Carney to speak directly with Trump. On June 9, Carney confirmed the bridge would open despite Trump's threats. The U.S. administration held up the opening to get concessions from Ottawa.

Carney called the deal "no big drama." The bridge is scheduled to open July 27, 2026. Canada has cancelled a joint ribbon-cutting celebration with the United States, scrapped due to Trump's threat of 50 per cent tariffs.

The broader context here is the gap between what Carney said and what the agreement actually says. Carney's July 12 and July 16 statements that debt would be paid before any revenue split are not in the released text. The agreement splits revenues after operating costs only. This matters because Canada paid the entire $6.4-billion construction cost. Without a clause to deduct debt costs first, the revenue split applies to a larger pool of money than Carney described.

The toll-rate veto given to the United States adds a second concession that was not previously disclosed. Combined with the revenue split, it means Washington gets both a share of the bridge's money and some control over pricing decisions, even though Canada paid for the entire bridge and it is publicly owned under the 2012 agreement with Michigan.

The leverage the U.S. used over the file is also worth noting. Trump's threat to block the opening gave Washington significant negotiating power over a Canadian-funded project that was already built and ready to go. The cancellation of the joint celebration, tied to a separate tariff threat, shows how the bridge got caught up in wider Canada-U.S. trade tensions instead of standing as a straightforward infrastructure milestone.