The Gordie Howe International Bridge has opened to motorists after months of controversy over financial aspects of the project.

Officials announced in a post on social media that the Howe family crossed first, in honour of the bridge’s Canadian-American hockey namesake.

Minutes later, another post marked the crossing of the first commercial truck, a vehicle from a trucking company in Tecumseh, Ont., that is carrying auto parts to Michigan.

U.S. President Donald Trump insisted in a social media post in February that the United States would have to be compensated before he would allow the bridge to open.

He falsely claimed the $6.4-billion structure connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit was built with virtually no American content.

Canada subsequently agreed to make some adjustments concerning the sharing of revenues. Prime Minister Mark Carney later said he could have been more clear about the terms of the deal, as Conservative critics accused him of bending to Trump’s administration.

The Canadian Press has more. 

A new oil pipeline to the West Coast would lift Canada and Alberta’s gross domestic product, but perhaps not to the degree the provincial and federal governments are forecasting, says a new report from TD Economics.

The government analysis predicts a 0.6 per cent boost to the national economy by the 2040s and 3.5 per cent to Alberta’s.

“While these figures provide a useful benchmark, they should be viewed as proposal-stage estimates from proponents and governments with a clear interest in advancing development, and therefore may lean optimistic,” economists Marc Ercolao and Likeleli Seitlheko wrote in the report released Monday.

Using more conservative assumptions, the economists said the increase could be more like 0.3 per cent nationally and two per cent provincially.

CP’s got this one too. 

Toronto Liberal MPs are celebrating the government’s decision to reject the province’s proposal to expand Billy Bishop airport, defusing a potentially contentious political fight over development of the city’s waterfront.

Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon made the announcement on Friday, singling out concerns such as elevated noise, destruction of public spaces, restraints on housing construction and environmental impacts.

That decision came after the government launched consultations in the spring on the proposal.

The Ontario government had invoked a new law to fast-track the expansion, but needed sign-off from Ottawa because the downtown airport is jointly overseen by the province, federal government and city as part of the tripartite agreement. Ontario had used its powers to take over Toronto’s seat at the table as cities fall under the jurisdiction of provincial governments in the Constitution.

While Premier Doug Ford said he had the support of Prime Minister Mark Carney, it was clear early on the project was divisive in downtown Toronto, which is represented by in the House of Commons by members of the governing Liberals.

Marco Vigliotti has more. 

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Elsewhere, firefighters in France and Spain are racing to bring huge wildfires under control before another heatwave this week that will complicate efforts to tame the flames.

Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said Monday and Tuesday were “absolutely crucial days” before temperatures rise again from Wednesday.

EU officials have said wildfires could still be burning until early November in what threatens to be a record-breaking year for the area of land burned.

A fire in the hilly terrain of Ávila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record, burning 50,000 hectares (123,000 acres). Authorities are battling two separate fires north-west of Madrid, taking the total area of scorched land near the capital to 70,000 hectares.

France was also in “a race against time” to control wildfires before another heatwave this week, said Eric Brocardi, a fire service spokesperson. Weather forecasters have said temperatures could reach 40C (104F) is some parts of the country from Tuesday.

The Guardian has more. 

Meanwhile, when President Trump announced an anti-crime task force for Memphis last fall, federal and local officials never mentioned immigration enforcement as a goal.

But the influx of federal agents into the city has led to widespread immigration arrests — a majority without criminal convictions, according to an Institute for Public Service Reporting data analysis.

NPR reviewed arrest data and spoke with lawyers, immigrants, activists and community members to piece together the task force’s impact on Memphis over the past 10 months.

It found paralyzed immigrant neighborhoods, where scenes played out reminiscent of Chicago and Minneapolis at the height of targeted federal immigration enforcement actions. Aid networks ramped up their work to help immigrants too fearful to leave their homes. Hotlines rang out with calls from panicked immigrants. And routine traffic stops led to immigration arrests.

Read more from NPR.

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

If you got eclipse glasses left over from 2024, it’s time to take them out again.

On August 12, the sky promises a rare one-two punch: a partial solar eclipse in the afternoon, followed by the Perseid meteor shower after dark.

Just something to look forward to as July quickly slips away.

More from Space.com.