REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

The election could accelerate one of Ottawa’s top priorities – construction of a new bridge linking Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, the busiest Canada-U.S. border crossing.

Among the winners on Tuesday night was Michigan’s re-elected Republican Governor Rick Snyder, an ardent supporter of the multibillion-dollar bridge project.

Ottawa has been feuding with Washington in recent months over the latter’s refusal to pay for a U.S. customs plaza on the Michigan side of the bridge. The U.S. says the Canadian government should put up the money and recoup the costs later through tolls. Ottawa says the U.S. should pay for its own plaza.

Without a customs plaza, it would be a bridge to nowhere. With the election out of the way, finding some money in Washington may now prove easier. U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker hinted last week during a visit to Ottawa that a resolution might be near.

But Canada could be fighting an uphill battle getting attention on other efforts to declog the border and move goods more swiftly. That’s because border issues continue to be mired in a U.S. preoccupation with the U.S.-Mexico border and problems of illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

When the northern border gets attention, it’s often in a negative way. For example, last month’s killing of two Canadian soldiers has heightened concerns in Washington about security and terrorist threats to the U.S. homeland.

“The way to get attention to a border is to have a security problem,” said Laura Dawson, an Ottawa trade consultant. “But Canadians don’t really want the border to get thicker and more militarized. We want it to be smarter and more rational.”

Barrie McKenna