14
view . summer 2008
Research Centre for Law and Policy, which
has been affiliated with UWindsor’s Faculty
of Law since 1992 and focuses on legal
and policy issues between Canada and
the U.S., to the Great Lakes Institute for
Environmental Research and Humanities
Research Group.
Anderson, who will put together the
new institute’s advisory board, made up
of faculty members, says cross-border
transportation studies eventually can
become as important as automotive
engineering at UWindsor. “When somebody
asks the question about the issues at the
border, one of the first things they should
say is, ‘Well, what have they done on this
in Windsor?’”
Anderson dismisses what he calls “big
idea” solutions to relieve border problems
and improve overall Canada-U.S. relations.
He says that there already are enough
“intelligent” people in government and
industry who have studied and understand
the issues: An academic’s role is to provide
“cutting-edge research” and objectivity.
“For me good academics are those who
study a problem before they try to come
up with solutions,” says Anderson. “I think
people may find it a little frustrating talking
to me for the first year because I’m going
to be very careful about making very
strong, blanket statements about things.
“In the long run, I’m a pretty plain-spoken
person, but I really want to understand the
situation well.”
Says Anderson: “Windsor-Detroit is part
of a massive regional industrial complex
with an international border running
through the middle of it, and there are very
few situations like that anywhere in the
world. Even in the European Union I don’t
think there’s anything bigger than what we
have here.”
In spite of domestic manufacturing
problems, he says, many companies, such
as Toyota Canada Inc., want to locate
in Ontario. Toyota, in fact, is starting
production of its popular RAV4 vehicle in
Woodstock this year. Anderson says that
one of his main concerns is: “Does the
border being difficult ultimately become
enough of an impediment to outweigh the
advantages of doing business in Ontario.”
He says there is tremendous potential in
the quality of trained workers in Ontario
and in the university system, adding that
UWindsor will be the hub of his institute.
“I want to do some basic simple sorts of
economic analyses, understand the system
as well as I can, and pull together as much
of the resources” at UWindsor as possible.
Anderson will also involve people from
government, academia, corporations
and the tourism industry on both sides
of the border.
He says he will work closely with
alumni. One of his first tasks will be to
reach out to those in industry. He wants
to understand their needs and their
perspectives, and involve them in regular
activities where they can work together.
When construction on a new border
crossing gets underway, he says it will
be the largest civil engineering project in
Windsor’s history. The process will become
a valuable subject for students monitoring
its engineering, as well as environmental,
impact and its effects on the economies of
both the U.S. and Canada. Anderson says
that while security threats and clampdowns
at the border will persist, those who claim
that there must be better security regardless
of cost are wrong. “I don’t think you can
ever have anything at any cost, unless
you’re willing to give up the whole level
of affluence that we have around here,”
says Anderson. Companies have better
contingency plans to deal with emergencies.
“So if (an attack) happens again, I think that
both sides of the border will be prepared
better, but I may worry more about the
politics that happen shortly after.”
❍
v
UWindsor’s Cross-Border Transportation
Institute will have no shortage of intriguing
possibilities to study and recommendations
to make for the Windsor-Detroit border. For
example, Dr. William Anderson says Inter-modal
rail -- the movement of freight using at least two
different methods of transport – is one way to
relieve some pressure on the border. Shippers
who need goods moved quickly and reliably and
are willing to pay for a higher level of service
currently do not have a way to do that.
Anderson would also like to look into other
types of movement across the border: services
and people. In Boston, for instance, the
movement of people and services is “(the city’s)
whole bread and butter” because there is so
little manufacturing. Most movement involves
businessmen travelling to other cities.
“Here we are in Windsor, sitting on the edge
of a massive metropolitan area in the United
States. There’s no reason that we couldn’t also
be exporting a lot of these high-level services.
I’m talking about technical services, engineering
services,” he says, citing the example of a Seoul
company that runs the computers for public
transportation in two Australian cities.
High-speed rail is another area with far-reaching
potential, Anderson says. He envisions a
seamless connection between a Quebec City-
Windsor line to a high-speed rail linking Detroit
and Chicago, where one plan calls for that city
to be a major transportation hub with a series of
spokes connecting it to other large centres in the
U.S. Those connections could create the kind of
ridership levels and economics that financially
justify such a project, he says, again citing a
foreign model – Sweden and Denmark –
worth emulating.
