Report: Study 'clearly demonstrates' benefits of upgrading Wild Horse

Another study on the impacts of upgrading the status of the crossing on the Canadian border north of Havre has found the same results: An increase in hours and easing the ability to haul freight across the border will help the economies of both north-central Montana and Alberta.

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon, a co-chair of the Wild Horse Border Committee, said in a release that the report shows the economies of the two regions are connected and upgrading Wild Horse would grow the economies, add jobs and increase the economic relations of Montana and Alberta.

“This project should be on the must-do list for the federal governments on both sides of the border,” Solomon, who was not available for an interview, said in the release.

The efforts to upgrade the port, which now is part-time and requires truckers obtain a permit before transporting freight through the port, began last decade under then-Havre Mayor Bob Rice and then-Medicine Hat, Alberta, Mayor Garth Vallely.

The Port of Sweet Grass north of Shelby is the only 24-hour commercial port between Montana and Alberta. The Wild Horse Border Committee co-chaired by the mayors of Havre and Alberta, started by asking the Canadian and U.S. governments to upgrade Wild Horse to the same status.

“The business case clearly demonstrates the value in making service changes at the Port of Wild Horse,” Medicine Hat Mayor Ted Clugston said in the release.

Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Tuss, a member of the committee, said Wednesday that the request now is much more modest, asking that the summer hours for Wild Horse, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., be used year round and that the status be upgraded to commercial, eliminating the need for permits.

“Our hope is, at this point, to convince federal legislatures on both sides of the border to implement what is in the study,” Tuss said.

The committee has in the past asked for extending the summer hours, now running from May 15 to Sept. 30, for longer in the year. The winter hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Between 2009 and 2013, hours were extended, but rarely with both sides of the border implementing the same schedule at the same time.

Studies by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at University of Montana in Missoula and by the Montana Department of Transportation both also have found that upgraded hours and status at the port would bring economic benefits.

Tuss said the committee hopes to bring all of Montana’s congressional delegates, the federal agencies on both sides of the border and the state and provincial governments on board supporting the proposal.

Tuss added that shipping firms and businesses on both sides of the border support the proposal and would benefit from it, as would the economies of both Canada and the United States.

“Whatever we can do to tip the needle so the Port of Wild Horse isn’t just there to keep the bad guys out,” Tuss said.

He said the political and economic climate in the United States might help the effort after “fairly monumental political changes in our country.”

“The good thing is, there’s a great conversation about economic growth in our country,” Tuss said. “ … The current administration is talking about, in a very significant way, what we should be doing in the country for growth, to create jobs, and what can the federal government do to help in that effort.”

To see the study, visit https://issuu.com/havrenews/docs/03-09_report_port_of_wild_horse__a_