Canada Responds to Attacks on Management of Peace Bridge

Brendan Bannon for The New York Times The Peace Bridge crosses the Niagara River and connects Buffalo, N.Y., to Fort Erie, Ontario, in Canada.

Canada is providing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo with a lesson in diplomacy.

In a letter released on Friday, the Canadian government brushed back the Cuomo administration’s attacks on the Canadian officials who help manage the Peace Bridge, which spans the Niagara River between Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario.

The letter manages to be both polite and dismissive. It refutes some of the myriad charges that have been leveled by the Cuomo administration. And it chides efforts underway by lawmakers allied with the governor to pass legislation that would change the governance of the binational authority that operates the bridge, saying any changes would need the “consent of both federal governments.”

“These deliberations on governance only serve as a distraction, and compromise the ability to move ahead,” the letter says, adding, “This is unfortunate.”

The letter, which was sent on May 31, was addressed to Howard Glaser, one of the governor’s top aides, in response to a sharply critical letter he sent in April. But while Mr. Glaser’s letter was sent to the Canadian Transport Minister, Denis Lebel, he received a response from Scott Streiner, an assistant deputy minister who is five rungs below Mr. Lebel on the ministry’s organizational chart.

The dispute began months ago, after a disagreement over a deal to purchase land to expand the plaza on the American side of the bridge escalated into an increasingly nasty dispute between the Cuomo administration and Canadian officials who sit on the bridge authority. The matter has highlighted the hardball and sometimes corrosive tactics that have characterized the Cuomo administration’s dealings in a number of areas.

“We trust you and your colleagues will agree that engaging in respectful, fact-based dialogue is the best way to ensure the smooth functioning of an institution and an asset that have served our two countries so well for almost a century,” Mr. Streiner wrote.

The Cuomo administration did not have an immediate comment.