Confederation Bridge toll freeze will make 'big difference,' some Islanders say

Prince Edward Islanders are relieved the Confederation Bridge toll will not be increasing next year, but there is still frustration over the cost to leave the province.

On Monday, the federal government announced it would be freezing Confederation Bridge tolls for 2023 to support Islanders affected by the pandemic, inflation and post-tropical storm Fiona.

The bridge toll is usually adjusted each year for inflation.

But Transport Canada will provide funding to Strait Crossing, the company that operates the bridge, so the price will remain at $50.25 for a regular car with two axles crossing the bridge in 2023.

News welcomed by bridge travellers

Maegan Goeseels crosses the bridge about three or four times a month to shop in Moncton or visit her brother. She said she worries about how much it costs her each time she travels to New Brunswick.

"With the inflation going up so high, and with the cost of everything else, us Islanders, when we want to get away, it's just like more money out of our pocket," she said.

Goeseels said the bridge toll freeze will mean significant savings for her family.

"I'm a single mother with two boys, so to buy food, buy clothing, school expenses, heat, gas, it's quite a bit. That extra five bucks can go in my pocket and help me out quite a bit with my children."

Cliff Branston drives across the bridge about three or four times every summer.

He said he thinks the government should get rid of the toll entirely, but the freeze in price is a good step.

"It'll make a big difference for sure, going over to see my sisters in Halifax, or going anywhere visiting," Branston said.

"For now it's a good thing as long as they don't keep going up after that ends."

Ottawa pays $4.1 million to Strait Crossing

Malpeque MP Heath MacDonald said Strait Crossing had been planning to increase the bridge toll by about 8.5 per cent come Jan. 1.

That's more than is typically allowed under the company's contract with Ottawa. In a normal year, increases are limited to 75 per cent of the Consumer Price Index, which measures the rate of inflation.

But because the company's toll revenues were lower last year than what is guaranteed in its contract, a bigger jump in price is permitted to make up for revenue shortfall.

MacDonald said the federal government stopped that increase from happening by paying $4.1 million to the company.

"As we are in a time of increased inflation, we lobbied, our members from P.E.I. lobbied, to ensure that Islanders are not wearing the devastation of a pandemic because traffic flow slowed for two years," he said.

Toll a 'problem' and 'burden' for Islanders, says senator

The question that remains is what will happen to the toll after 2023 and the federal subsidy ends. 

P.E.I. Senator Percy Downe said although Ottawa's decision to freeze tolls in 2023 is a temporary step, it is a good start.

"It's the first time the Government of Canada has acknowledged that the tolls are a problem and a burden for Prince Edward Islanders," he said.

Downe said the province must continue pushing Ottawa to reduce the toll. The federal government has contracts with companies that operate two other bridges in Canada: the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, which has no toll, and the Gordie Howe Bridge in Windsor, Ont., which is still under construction and will have a toll.

"You can't be in this situation where you're treating Canadians differently depending where they live," Downe said.

In a statement to CBC News, Transport Canada stated what sets the Confederation Bridge apart from these structures is that it is an interprovincial structure that replaced a former ferry service, which charged fares.

'They could almost do a decrease'

Scott Annear, co-owner of Morley Annear Ltd., an Island trucking company that regularly uses the bridge, agrees that Ottawa must do more to reduce the toll.

"It's great to give us this freeze, but in the same token, what the government has had increased revenues from tax and diesel has more than compensated this," he said.  

"They could almost do a decrease if they wanted for what we're paying extra every day."

According to MacDonald, there are just 10 years left in Strait Crossing's contract with Ottawa. The MP thinks it's time for P.E.I. and the federal government to create a task force to consider the future of the bridge's tolls.

"There's a bigger issue here and I think we need to start talking about it and thinking about it with all levels of government."