The Government of Canada has announced it is freezing the toll on Confederation Bridge for 2023. This is wonderful news and the first acknowledgement from Ottawa that the high tolls are an unfair burden on Prince Edward Islanders.

However, this announcement does not address the significant discrepancy in how the federal government treats Canadians when it comes to charging tolls on transportation infrastructure, depending on where one lives in Canada.

The federal government owns a number of major bridges in Canada; among them are the Gordie Howe Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, the Champlain Bridge in Montréal, and Confederation Bridge in Prince Edward Island. Two of these bridges have tolls, while the Champlain Bridge is toll free — notwithstanding the fact that it cost three times more money to construct than Confederation Bridge.

This is grossly unfair, and it creates resentment and divisions in our country.

The Confederation Bridge tolls not only directly impact Islanders’ personal travel, they also increase the price of products delivered to and exported from our province, driving up costs for businesses and consumers.

To compound the unfairness of the federal government’s actions in maintaining the high toll on Confederation Bridge, the yearly subsidy the government provides to the Champlain Bridge is higher than the combined subsidy to the Wood Islands Ferry and Confederation Bridge. If the federal government provided the same annual subsidy to the latter two, their tolls could be reduced to $20.

Surely, the money to fund a higher subsidy for P.E.I. infrastructure can be found as easily as it was for a toll-free Champlain Bridge.

For example, the federal government administers the Investing in Canada Plan, a 12-year, $180-billion program initiated in 2016 to fund “infrastructure that benefits Canadians.” Surely some of that money could be dedicated to existing infrastructure in order to reduce the cost of living for Islanders, and to make our exports more competitive and our imports more affordable.

The history of user-pay tolling on federal transportation infrastructure in Canada is clear: tolls were charged, including on the first Champlain Bridge, and that’s how the users of the infrastructure paid for it. Prince Edward Islanders understood this and agreed to tolls as a condition of the construction of Confederation Bridge, which has proven to be a wonderful asset for our province.

However, as part of an election promise, the government changed the federal user-pay infrastructure policy in 2015 and removed the tolls on the Champlain Bridge. In doing so, it left Islanders stuck paying outrageous tolls for our bridge, currently $50.25 per vehicle — not an insignificant cost in a province with the highest inflation and some of the lowest wages in the country.

It is time for the federal government to correct the problem it created when it changed the long-standing user-pay infrastructure policy in our country. In consultation with the Prince Edward Island government, it should explore options to rectify this costly mistake.  

If we are ever to fix this problem, Islanders must work together and keep the pressure on the Government of Canada. The federal government cannot defend the unfairness of its decision to leave tolls on Confederation Bridge.

A one-year toll freeze should be only the first step towards a more equitable user-pay policy for Canadians.

Senator Percy Downe represents Prince Edward Island in the Senate.

A similar version of this article appeared in the December 21, 2022 edition of The Guardian.