Tolls on the Confederation Bridge linking Prince Edward Island to Canada’s mainland will drop sharply starting Aug. 1, along with several other Atlantic travel fees, the prime minister said Monday. Fulfilling a promise the Liberals made during the April election campaign, Mark Carney said the toll for an average vehicle will drop to $20 from $50.25 to cross the bridge.
“We’re doing this to bring … Canadians closer together,” Carney said in making the announcement in Albany, P.E.I., with a view of the curved, 12.9-km. structure stretching off into the distance behind him.
About one million vehicles a year drive over the crossing, which opened in 1997, connecting the Island to New Brunswick. A lease agreement with the bridge operator extends to 2032.
The government is also cutting fares in half for passengers, vehicles and commercial traffic on federally supported Eastern Canada ferry services.
Carney says the fee reductions are meant to boost interprovincial mobility – part of the government’s plan to reduce internal trade barriers in response to the U.S. trade war.
He noted the cumulative annual cost of the various reductions in fares and tolls to the public treasury will be about $100 million but predicted the changes would generate increased traffic and lower the cost of living.
Marine Atlantic, a constitutionally mandated ferry service connecting Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, will reduce traveller fares by 50% and freeze commercial freight rates.
Carney said the Eastern Ferry services and Marine Atlantic carry an average of 2,500 people and 1,200 vehicles daily.
“If we’re going to build a stronger, more united economy … we’re going to need to make it more affordable to travel around this country, for people and for businesses and that’s what we’re doing today,” he said.
Carney said the reduction to the Marine Atlantic fares for the crossings to Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to bring $28 million into that province’s economy and boost out-of-province tourism.
The prime minister said his government remains focused on reducing internal trade barriers and improving national infrastructure.
“What we’re doing is building our country, bringing it closer together. This is one tangible example,” he said.
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