Members of council voted against a potential toll on Diefenbaker Bridge. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

No Toll

Council shelves toll bridge idea

Jan 29, 2020 | 1:59 PM

A potential toll on the Diefenbaker Bridge has once again sparked debate around P.A. city council table, but on Monday night it appeared it would be for the very last time.

In a narrow 5-4 vote, council decided to close the file and stop considering taxing motorists to cross the river as means of raising money for a second bridge.

The decision came after a letter from the province which stated the government did not support the toll. The Minister of Highways and Infrastructure further cautioned if the city went ahead anyway, it could lose funding for other roads through the Urban Highway Connector Program (UHCP). The province provides Prince Albert around $200,000 in annual grants through the agreement.

“I found it [the letter] a little bit threatening to be honest,” Coun. Charlene Miller, who initially proposed the idea of tolling the bridge at a July meeting, told council. “Threatening to cut off the Urban Highway Connector Funding Agreement, which is really a drop in the bucket if we put the toll on the bridge.”

She told councillors she wanted to keep pursuing the file. Miller added the toll would enable the city to be shovel ready with one third of the cost of a second bridge within three years if matching federal and provincial funding was secured.

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Coun. Evert Botha voiced his agreement, saying he wanted to see the issue investigated further.

“Just as a word of caution to the many keyboard warriors out there,” he added. “We don’t know what the toll is going to look like, but we’re not going to have a physical toll both on Second Ave. on the highway, this is 2020.”

Meanwhile Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick said he wanted the idea of the toll dropped.

“I don’t think the City of Prince Albert needs a second bridge, I really don’t. It’s not the city, it’s the province, so let the province build one,” he said.

He further argued the province had paid for around 95 per cent of the repair costs of major malfunctions on the bridge in the past.

“To then turn around and put a tax on that bridge when people are already paying for the repairs… it doesn’t make sense for us to say citizens of Saskatoon that cross that bridge to go to Candle Lake etc. should be taxed.”

Ultimately the issue came down to a tight vote, with Mayor Greg Dionne clinching a slim majority for those in favour of shelving talk of the toll.

“We have more important things to deal with,” he told paNOW after the meeting. “I’m going to pressure the government about the bridge, but my first priority, in talking to the residents of P.A., they want a hospital. So that’s why I’m focused on a hospital.”

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom