Mandate:
The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited (FBCL) is a Crown corporation responsible for the oversight of Canadian federal interests in four international bridge crossings between Canada and the United States. The FBCL’s mandate is to provide stewardship of international bridges and associated structures to ensure their safety and efficiency.
The FBCL owns crossing assets and provides oversight to bridge operations, administering international agreements associated with the bridges, leading bridge engineering and inspection duties, and managing bridge capital investment projects for the following four international bridges in Ontario:
- Blue Water Bridge (Point Edward);
- Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge (Sault Ste. Marie);
- Seaway International Bridge (Cornwall); and
- Thousand Islands International Bridge (Lansdowne).
In a typical year, the FBCL derives revenues of over $43 million from its activities, and receives federal government funding on an ad hoc basis for major capital projects. The corporation’s revenue dropped by about 37% in the 2020/21 fiscal year due to COVID-19.
After experiencing a significant loss of revenue related to COVID-19 cross border travel restrictions, the Government of Canada provided COVID-19 relief funding to FBCL of up to $59 million over five years, from 2020/21 to 2024/25, to support its continued bridge operations.
While commercial truck traffic remained constant throughout the pandemic, passenger traffic was severely reduced. FBCL reported an improvement in passenger traffic in 2022-23, up to 66% of pre-pandemic figures, and the company expects further improvement in 2023/24 as it enters its first full year without restrictions at Canadian borders, and vaccination requirements in the United States.
Profile:
Chief Executive Officer: Natalie Kinloch
Chairperson of the Board of Directors: Pascale Daigneault
Board of Directors: seven directors (including the Chief Executive Officer)
Size: 130 employees full-time equivalents at peak season 2023-24 Footnote 1