Federal auditor general expected to weigh in on toll issue, national highway program

OTTAWA — Federal Auditor General Denis Desautels is expected to submit 11 studies of government expenditures to the House of Commons on Dec. 1, including one on federal highway programs.

In the past five years, Transport Canada has spent $200 million a year on highways through federal-provincial agreements. Each year it collects roughly $4.5 billion in taxes on fuel and other road-related items.

A statement from the Auditor GeneralÕs office said the transportation study Òassessed the extent to which Transport Canada has discharged its other responsibilities related to overall federal spending on highways.Ó

The report is also expected to examine whether federal funding to improve highways in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that were later turned over to private companies was appropriate. The federal government agreed to help provinces pay for infrastructure upgrades following termination of the Atlantic Freight Rate Assistance program nearly three years ago.

In New Brunswick, for instance, the 195-kilometre, $584.4-million highway between Fredericton and Moncton under construction by a private company includes a section from Moncton to River Glade which was already built under a joint federal-provincial program.

The Maritime Road Development Corp. will build and maintain the highway for 30 years, collecting tolls estimated at $22 million a year and receiving annual payments from the province of $58 million.