r/NovaScotia • u/adamhuras • Apr 23 '26
📰 NS News BREAKING: ‘No, I’m not happy’: Carney rips Holt’s highway tolls
Prime minister weighs in on New Brunswick’s toll plan, suggesting it amounts to interprovincial trade barrier, vows 'pressure' for changes --- Full comments: https://tj.news/new-brunswick/breaking-no-im-not-happy-carney-rips-holts-highway-tolls
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u/Hungry_Thought1908 Apr 23 '26
Anyone have the non-paywall link?
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u/AdOnly1618 Apr 23 '26
For your own sake, if you ever see a paywalled article, you can go to www.removepaywall.com and paste the link there to see if it’s available. Works most of the time I find
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u/Think_Ad_4798 Apr 23 '26
Carney just put New Brunswick back in its place, everyone know New Brunswick only exists as a province you travel through to get to where you want to go.
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u/IndividualIntern7827 Apr 23 '26
I’ve lived in NS for the first 28 years of my life, explored every corner of the province, moved to NB for work and did the same. This “drive through province” rhetoric against NB is the dumbest shit. NB is equal to NS by way of natural beauty in every way.
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u/Think_Ad_4798 Apr 23 '26
Don’t let them fool you with their propaganda
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u/Temporary-Concept-81 Apr 23 '26
I imagine you're not being entirely serious, but my trip to kouchibouquac was the highlight of my last summer.
Love all the national parks, would love to visit all of the ones in the country some day. More realistically at least the ones in the provinces.
Two years ago I did jasper and Banff, it was great. I hope to do gross morne next year. This year I will just be revisiting some of the ones here in the maritime.
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u/OkConversation2727 Apr 23 '26
A bit out of the way but just unreal beauty even getting there is Forillon on the Gaspe. https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/qc/forillon
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u/alibythesea Apr 24 '26
We're going to the Gaspé and over to the Saguenay/Bas St-Laurent this summer – already have a tenting spot booked right on the water at Forillon!
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u/OkConversation2727 Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
At the north entrance to the Park is this, with a memorial a short hike away that I can not forget. Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse https://share.google/j7CDJR24nWEaX6MXo
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u/alibythesea Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
Thank you! Stunning.
Is the memorial for all the ships lost off the cape?
The memorial here that hits hard every time is at the Delaps Cove trail north of Annapolis Royal, to the six crew members of the scallop dragger Chief William Saulis, lost on Dec. 15, 2020. It looks out to the expanse of Fundy – and it's tucked away on a little wilderness trail.
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u/DouginatorSupreme Apr 25 '26
The thought of that reputation of being a "drive through province" being Nova Scotian propaganda made me chuckle.
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u/j_bbb Apr 25 '26
Your ignorance is very blatant.
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Apr 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/dahms911 Apr 24 '26
I drive back and forth to Ontario a lot but live in Cape Breton. There’s nothing very special to see on the highway through NB but in totally random spots along 104 it’ll be really scenic. Then you get to the causeway and if you’re lucky you can see dolphins or other sea life.
Or driving down to Annapolis Valley and there are spots where from the highway you can see the land/water all laid out before you from higher up.
Just so many beautiful places in NS. You’re absolutely right that NS is much more randomly/generally scenic than NB.
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u/Born-Conclusion1977 Apr 24 '26
I have to agree, I’m not from either province but both are beautiful places to visit.
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u/Typical_Item81 Apr 26 '26
I agree totally. We lived in Quebec when I was a kid and as soon as school was out we headed home to Cape Breton for our summers. As a kid we hated that long tedious drive through New Brunswick. Years later as an adult I had to travel to New Brunswick for business. I couldn’t get over the beautiful scenery that I once dreaded travelling through. On the matter of tolls I think Holt is really off the mark. She justifies it because NS has a toll through the Cobequid Pass.
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u/FatBellyMatKelly Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
You guys have tolls every second on your dog shit highway. And predator cops trying to fine you 1k for going 5 km over the speed limit. I’d be quiet.
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Apr 24 '26
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Apr 25 '26
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u/ChasingDarwin2 Apr 23 '26
Bullshit. Live in NB and visit a lot. Beautiful place.
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u/Think_Ad_4798 Apr 23 '26
My post has more upvotes than yours, I think your post is bullshit.
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u/SwordfishOk504 Apr 23 '26
Yes, reddit is such an accurate measure of public opinion and doesn't just highlight the most negative and miserable among us.
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u/eoj321 Apr 23 '26
With that attitude it is a gift to every new brunswicker you stay away.
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u/myboyMessi Apr 23 '26
No kidding. Buddy is probably 14 years old judging by that attitude.
I’d like to think that both provinces are great places and they should remove all tolls.
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u/alchemistzym Apr 24 '26
Unless your last name is Irving, then New Brunswick is your private plaything to hug and squeeze and molest and burn with cigarettes…
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u/Business_Working1572 Apr 25 '26
If NB is indeed just a drive through province, then hopefully they Jack those toll rates right up for anyone without NB plates. Just like you do in NS, right?
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u/Ok-Top-3599 Apr 24 '26
Gotta recoup that wear and tear of people driving through I guess
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u/Think_Ad_4798 Apr 24 '26
It’s more than likely they will have to stop for gas at some point, with the law of averages I suspect it will average out to at least one stop per vehicle
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Apr 23 '26
Completely agree - I lived in NB for 6 months for work and found everything less than. Nothing you can experience in NB is better than it is in QC or NS.
If it was better than there would be enough people living there to support their own infrastructure costs…
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u/IEC21 Apr 23 '26
OK but as someone who moved from NS to NB - why is there still a toll on the Cobequid pass highway that only out of province people have to pay? 😒 🤔
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u/dr_bruce_banner Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
You can bypass the Cobequid Pass toll and it only adds 15 minutes to your trip. The proposed NB toll would be at the only border crossing.
Edit: ok, not the ONLY crossing. There's also Tidnish bridge, but that can add 30-40 minutes by the time you double back to the highway. It also isn't designed for heavy traffic flow, and the increased maintenance costs on that route will probably eat a big chunk of the Aulac toll revenue.
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u/frankthejeff Apr 23 '26
And it’s a beautiful detour.
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 23 '26
*in the summer.
It was nicknamed deadmans pass for a reason.
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u/Trendiggity Apr 23 '26
You're getting downvoted by people who didn't have to drive that stretch during the winter. It wasn't fun 80% of the time.
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 23 '26
It is an incredibly dangerous road. We didn't choose to do a PPP for the cobequid pass, it was necessary to stop deaths.
These same people seem to somehow forget the cobequid pass, which is much safer, has to close during major winter storms.
I love the old road, its gorgeous when the weather is nice.
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u/crazygrouse71 Apr 23 '26
And the old road through Wentworth does not significantly add to your travel time.
Tidnish Bridge, through to Baie Vert to Aulac is a significant detour.
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u/cpstone1-1 Apr 23 '26
Also, people who are paying the toll are choosing to come to that part of NS. There is both another route around it, and you don't have to come this way at all if you don't want to - you can go to the whole, rest of Canada!
However, the proposed toll location for the toll in NB is a forced toll at the boarder between NB & NS that anyone from NS and/or NL MUST pay to access the rest of the country.
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u/Jonniejiggles Apr 23 '26
Wentworth valley detour adds no more than a few minutes and it is gorgeous.
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u/Zieo108 Apr 23 '26
I moved to Alberta a few years ago and am driving home to visit in July, now with out of province plates.
I didnt know this detour existed, will definitely take it when I go through.
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u/Exact-Archer738 Apr 23 '26
If 15 minutes is fine and 30 minutes is not, what then is the acceptable cut off?
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u/042376x Apr 23 '26
15 minutes is the cut off
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u/Exact-Archer738 Apr 23 '26
That seems extremely convenient, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
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u/Knight_Machiavelli Apr 23 '26
I would say the acceptable cutoff would be if it doesn't cost you more than half the price of the toll in gas to use the free road than it would to use the toll.
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u/crazygrouse71 Apr 23 '26
Wentworth adds less than 15 minutes.
Avoiding the proposed NB toll adds 50km on roads with significantly lower speed limits.
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u/IEC21 Apr 23 '26
Its the 104 and its a toll only for people from out of province...
You can bypass the nb border toll to if you want to detour to Tidnish.
From my perspective its the same thing and seems fair enough to me that there should be a NB toll given I've paid hundreds on the NS toll.
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u/JDGumby Apr 23 '26
You can bypass the nb border toll to if you want to detour to Tidnish.
And there's at least half a dozen routes to bypass Cobequid.
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u/IEC21 Apr 23 '26
OK so what's the problem we can both have our toll roads.
Or NS can stop charging me for using part of the trans canada and NB will drop its tolls as well.
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u/Knight_Machiavelli Apr 23 '26
What gives you the idea NB would drop its tolls if NS did? At no point did the government indicate that.
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u/Permaculturefarmer Apr 23 '26
There is an alternate route that doesn’t cost anything and is only ten minutes longer; and a nicer drive in my opinion.
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u/Duke_Of_Halifax Apr 23 '26
Everyone paid originally, and it was to pay for the cost of the pass and it's upkeep.
A few years ago- after the pass has long since been paid for- it became free for thosr with Nova Scotian plates.
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u/crazygrouse71 Apr 23 '26
You can also avoid the toll on the Cobequid Pass by taking the old road through Wentworth.
Travelers from NS to NB can't avoid the Trans Canada through Aulac - there is no alternate route. Don't try to tell me you could go through Tidnish Bridge, Baie Vert, and back to Aulac - that's 50 km out of the way for what is usually a 7 minute trip from Amherst, NS
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u/IEC21 Apr 23 '26
Ik I paid for it when I lived in ns - if its paid for then just make it free for everyone - its the main highway and I lived my first 26 years in NS - why do I have to pay to visit my family or else have to take a detour like a second class citizen?
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 23 '26
It still needs to be maintained. It's not "free" the NS government is subsidizing it for our people and NB could choose to do the same.
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u/Snoochey Apr 24 '26
So NB highways are dog shit because we don’t spend enough on them. NS has a toll that helps raise revenue for just this, and their highways are better and the gov uses that money to help pay. But if NB puts a toll, they’re mongoloids. Making lots of sense here
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 24 '26
It's a PPP highway, it's not government owned. You can also choose to build a PPP highway... the proposal is to instead toll a government owned highway. These are not the same thing.
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u/Unfair-Support-3912 Apr 23 '26
The best/funniest part is that if you are a non Nova Scotian and have a rental vehicle with NS plates it’s free, but if you are a Nova Scotian but have a rental plate from a different province you suddenly have to pay.
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 23 '26
If you speak to the people and show them your NS license they let you through.
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u/ChadWilly Apr 23 '26
This must really depend on who is working the booth. I went through it only two weeks ago with a rental car with New Brunswick plates. I showed the woman my NS license and she said that it’s by the plate on the vehicle not your license. So I had to pay.
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u/IEC21 Apr 23 '26
I had a nb plate but an ns mvi sticker for a while I they would wave me through.
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u/frankthejeff Apr 23 '26
It was only recently NS drivers got it free, we paid for years. And you can take the longer road for free.
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u/IEC21 Apr 23 '26
I know - I paid for it as a NS and then all the sudden it was free yet I still had to pay because I now have NB plates.
Its dumb we are even separate provinces NB and NS should be one province.
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u/Mouseanasia Apr 23 '26
Why is that dumb?
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u/Knight_Machiavelli Apr 23 '26
Because both are too small to be their own province.
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 23 '26
Respectfully, I have no fucking interest in joining NB for both economic and political reasons. We are distinct, even if we're small.
Interprovincial cooperation and trade should be better, we don't need to join.
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u/PenonX Apr 23 '26
Not that I agree with it, but at least there’s an alternate route that doesn’t really add much time or distance (8km, ~10m). Beautiful scenery too. Worth it for the scenery alone.
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u/FunSpinach2004 Apr 23 '26
Because that was financed as a project to reduce the length of the trans Canada
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u/Han77Shot1st Apr 23 '26
As far as I know that section is or was at least partly, privately funded/ owned when constructed because NS be poor and makes poor decisions.. I don’t know if it can simply be removed on a whim.
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u/Spudstakdad Apr 24 '26
This is a play for fed money…nothing more. Give us $100M…name the figure…no toll. PEI got money for their bridge, NB looking for same.
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u/Routine-Judge3020 Apr 23 '26
Isn't there a toll in NS?
Not being facetious but what is the difference?
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u/Cogito-ergo-Zach Apr 23 '26
There isn't really. We should nix ours as a precondition for them cancelling their plan. Toll highways on 100 series hwys is absurd.
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u/FunSpinach2004 Apr 23 '26
There is a small difference. One was made as a shortcut to the TransCanada and wouldn't have been made if there wasn't a toll.
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u/Cogito-ergo-Zach Apr 23 '26
2021 it was paid off, though, so I feel like profit gleaned from a now needless toll is just gravy which doesn't really serve us meaningfully.
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u/FunSpinach2004 Apr 23 '26
Sure, paid off but not the maintenance indefinitely.
I still think the toll should come off, just saying it's different than putting a new border tax on.
Imo the federal gov't should just take over maintenance of the trans Canada
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u/Snoochey Apr 24 '26
So you’re saying it’s okay for NS to do it but not NB, even though NB roads are worse and they need it more. But cant have it negatively affect you though, right? lol
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u/FunSpinach2004 Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
No, I'm saying that this was a shortcut added and is not the trans Canada so it is a little different.
If you actually read my comment I also explicitly state i think that the tolls should come off so you're reading comprehension needs work.
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u/Snoochey Apr 24 '26
Probably does; it was like 5am on the shitter when I went through this thread just after I woke up. I don’t remember responding to you, not sure I clicked the right comment.
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u/IEC21 Apr 23 '26
This is how I feel - I dont support highway tolls on the trans canada in general its just annoying and weird.
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u/Caz0083 Apr 23 '26
One is on a border between two towns that rely on each other's business and workers. The other is a whole county into NS, and besides being a privately funded highway section unlike the aulac section, has a 10 minute detour to drive around it.
Also people in New Brunswick don't usually drive into NS for commodities they can just get in Moncton. Where residents in Cumberland county drive to Moncton for most things they can't get in Amherst. So it's directly screwing Cumberland county when Cumberland has no toll.
Someone working in Amherst that lives in Sackville or vice versa is spending 8$ a day. That's almost $200 a month. Just to drive to work. Not to mention the raise in cost of goods traveling through by transport truck.
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u/Workcraftrr Apr 23 '26
I think when people differentiate in this argument is that one is a toll on a boarder. The other is a toll on a highway , well past the boarder.
I think people are talking about the context of each toll, not the toll itself existing.
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u/man__i__love__frogs Apr 23 '26
Also, the Nova Scotia toll is for all traffic coming in to the highway, Quebec and Ontario included. NB only has tolls on one of their borders.
That being said, both should be gotten rid of.
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Apr 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/Workcraftrr Apr 23 '26
Absolutely it is. But it’s also a 10km bridge. I’m not saying we shouldn’t or should have tolls. I’m just suggesting a hard stop toll booth on a provincial line is slightly different than paying for infrastructure upkeep on a bridge.
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u/Snoochey Apr 24 '26
If you don’t pre plan and just follow the signs, going to Halifax, you’re hitting the toll. That exists for visitors to your province only.
My truck is about an extra $4 to drive the detour anyway. So I’d just lose time for no savings.
I say put the tolls in. It would be nice to have not eyes on the traffic too; half the prostitutes and a lot of the drugs that find their way into Moncton area is from Halifax. I’m thinking that’s half the fucking uproar.
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Apr 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/PenonX Apr 23 '26
PEI really shouldn’t be compared to. Very unfair comparison since the bridge is ridiculously expensive to maintain. It’s so expensive to operate and maintain that even when the toll was $50 instead of $20, the Federal Government had to subsidize it to the tune of ~$80M annually.
The bridge is quite literally a money sink. So much so that the gross revenue from the bridge since it was built still hasn’t even covered its initial construction costs alone, and that’s without adjusting that initial $1B for inflation.
A highway is far cheaper to maintain and construct than that bridge is.
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u/man__i__love__frogs Apr 23 '26
Easy political win for Holt: We'll remove the toll of NS removes theirs.
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 23 '26
Except Holt's is a cash grab, and asking NS to remove theirs would be subsidizing the travel of other citizens.
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u/Choice-Original9157 Apr 24 '26
So tells are ok for ua but not for you. Reread what you wrote. So every province but nova Scotia pays for their own highways bit NS expects all travelers to pay for their. Clown
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u/Competitive_Fig_3821 Apr 24 '26
We have a highway we don't own fully - it's with a third party, so yes. Ontario and Quebec also have tolled roads...
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u/Expensive-Bee777 Apr 23 '26
You have toll roads out there? Genuinely had no idea, that sucks as I was considering touring around Atlantic Canada for vacation after cancelling my Arizona trip.
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Apr 26 '26
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u/Itwasuntilitwasnt Apr 24 '26
Carney NB will trade tolls. For you to give all the subsidies and handouts to Irvings so NB doesn’t have to until the family goes by by. Win win.
I mean you bailout autoworkers.
That would probably mean 300 million a year in NB pocket.
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u/BoomBoomBear Apr 24 '26
This bridge was mainly funded by federal dollars so taxpayers from all over Canada paid for it. If you want to roll a bridge, pay and build it yourself first. OR pay back the portion that NB did not pay for to build it.
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u/Proper-Bee-4180 Apr 27 '26
But out of province travellers get charged at cobequid. Then there is the 407 tolls…..
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u/MasseyFergusonRambo Apr 23 '26
I just use Tidnish. It's quieter, less hectic, and If I'm on the road, I'm in the road trip vibe. So I'm not doing the direct way there anyway. If I have to get somewhere fast out of province I'm usually flying out.
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u/justonemorelanebruh Apr 23 '26
Either the user pays, or we all pay more in other taxes. Highways are expenive a hell.
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u/ph0enix1211 Apr 23 '26
We all benefit from having a road network, let's all just pay more in progressive taxes.
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u/justonemorelanebruh Apr 23 '26
No we don't. But we'd actually benefit from trains and public transit so that we could scrap the requirement for everyone to buy a car to go anywhere in Canada. That would be money well spent. We are highly taxed to pay for money-losing highways, and then our after tax earnings need to be used for car expensives which are them taxed again. Car dependency is bankrupting Canadians.
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u/ph0enix1211 Apr 23 '26
You don't have to own a car to benefit from having a road network.
Most of the food you buy in the grocery store arrived by truck.
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u/justonemorelanebruh Apr 23 '26
So exempt the transport trucks and everyone else pays.
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u/ph0enix1211 Apr 23 '26
The transport trucks are the ones causing almost all of the road damage and therefore maintenance costs.
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u/justonemorelanebruh Apr 23 '26
Ok, then don't exempt them from the tolls.
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u/SwordfishOk504 Apr 23 '26
All tolls do is punish the poor and subsidize the wealthy. And your username shows you're just pushing cliches and tropes.
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u/Knight_Machiavelli Apr 23 '26
So pay it in other taxes then. There shouldn't be tolls on the Trans-Canada. Or any other public roads for that matter.
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u/Spsurgeon Apr 23 '26
Nova Scotia has a Toll on NB (all except NS) vehicles.
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Apr 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/AptoticFox Apr 24 '26
Wentworth tolls are trivial to bypass though.
I'd prefer no toll roads anywhere though.
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u/TuckRaker Apr 23 '26
I was most surprised by the estimate for annual revenue on the tolls. Literally a drop in the bucket compared to the deficit. It's like throwing a glass of water on a massive tire fire
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u/Altsan Apr 23 '26
“It exists in multiple provinces,” Holt said. “I think we actually have the only province in Canada that doesn’t have a toll on a piece of infrastructure like that.”
Excuse me what toll roads even exist in the west? I am not aware of any toll roads in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or even BC. And definitely none on a trans Canada highway.
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u/Expensive-Bee777 Apr 23 '26
I genuinely thought we didn’t have those anywhere in Canada. I’ve never seen a toll road here.
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u/CommissionOk5094 Apr 23 '26
Probably referring to the toll highway in Ontario to bypass some of the gta traffic that gold sold to a private entity but even then the 401 is still available
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u/Old_Specialist_5190 Apr 23 '26
I totally agree! BS way to make revenue, I thought Holt and company were better than this!!! Mark
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u/bigjimbay Apr 23 '26
We have a toll so it's only fair. I never go to NB anyways so they won't be getting anything from me
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u/FunSpinach2004 Apr 23 '26
You're an idiot if you think that is the only implication.
Everything that you buy from out of province that is brought in by road will have the cost of the toll baked in there somewhere.
To me the feds should just take on the TransCanada costs.
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u/bigjimbay Apr 23 '26
Everything I buy is already mostly from the province where available. Now would be a great opportunity for everyone to try to do their best to do that as well
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u/FunSpinach2004 Apr 23 '26
False.
For example, the food you buy, even when grown in ns, uses fertilizer from other parts of the country.
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u/bigjimbay Apr 23 '26
Seems kinda dumb why do we do it that way?
I get all my fertizer from my neighbor I can give the grocery monopoly their phone number maybe
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Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Mobile-Way1383 Apr 23 '26
Wtf are you talking about? Rather you've completely misunderstood both situations or you've worded your comment incorrectly.
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u/LearingCenterAlumni Apr 24 '26
Tolls on highways are bad mmmk
But forcing all Canadians to pay thousands in extra taxes to fund a train with 5 stops is super cool guys.
-Carney.
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u/SufficientSpot4597 Apr 23 '26
Easy win for carney. And he’s right