200 days and counting in New Brunswick: New Premier sets deadline to scrap tolls

FREDERICTON (June 21, 1999) — The countdown begins today as Bernard Lord, who campaigned on a promise to remove the tolls from the Fredericton-Moncton Highway within 200 days of taking power, is sworn in as New Brunswick’s 30th premier.

Tolls on the 195-kilometre highway, a large portion of which is still under construction, are expected to raise $22 million a year for the builder, Maritime Road Development Corp., under a private-public partnership. The consortium of companies has a 30-year lease with the province to operate the four-lane highway, for which there are no viable alternate routes.

Trucking industry leaders in the region have said that money to pay for the road can be raised elsewhere, and complain that the previous government turned a deaf ear to their suggestions. Government leaders in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland have appealed to Ottawa to help pay for construction and maintenance of the Fredericton-Moncton highway as well as the Cobequid Pass toll road in Nova Scotia, saying that increased transportation costs represent a barrier to interprovincial trade.

Indeed, Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association president Ralph Boyd warned that truckers would try to pass the costs of using the road on to shippers, who in turn could raise prices for consumers.

“No matter where you live in Atlantic Canada, the most common of household goods pass over this stretch of tolled highway, and will end up costing more,” he said.

Lord was re-elected as the member for Moncton East. The first portion for which a toll was charged is a 23-km stretch in the Moncton area.

Among others sworn in today will be Margaret-Ann Blaney as Transportation Minister. She will also be the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.