Too early to talk about toll on 2nd crossing, says Clark

Liberal leader won’t rule out toll on new bridge over Okanagan Lake

Charging a toll on a second crossing over Okanagan Lake has not been ruled out by the B.C. Liberals.

At a campaign event at Gray Monk Estate Winery in Lake Country, Premier Christy Clark could not answer whether or not a toll would be implemented on a second crossing over Okanagan Lake into Kelowna.

“We are so far away from getting that contracted and financed, we can’t say,” she said. “Let’s get some of the planning done and let’s figure out what it’s going to look like, where it’s going to be, and all of the other transportation planning that needs to be done at either end of it . . . then we can have a talk about that before it goes too much further ahead, but we’re just so early in the stages it’s hard to say.”

Clark did say she will not be asking people in Kelowna to pay for the Port Mann Bridge, which is currently tolled.

Neither Shelley Cook, the B.C. NDP candidate for Kelowna West, nor Robert Mellalieu, the Green candidate for Kelowna West, is in favour of a second crossing over Okanagan Lake.

“The engineers were asked to find a way to get more cars across the lake, but what we needed to ask was how to get more people across the lake,” said Mellalieu, adding the best alternative is light rail transit.

“In that case, I would then put a toll on the existing bridge because we need to change people’s habits,” he said.

At an all-candidates meeting on Monday, Cook slammed the idea of a second bridge and expressed a desire to expand public transit instead.

“Highways are essential, but they shouldn’t come at the cost of what we love, like parks and waterways,” she said.

Transportation is the top issue concerning residents in West Kelowna, said Clark, who is running for re-election in Kelowna West.

“The thing I hear most in West Kelowna is transportation, transportation, transportation.”

Clark boasted about the Liberals’ investments in improving both Westside Road and transit on the Westside, but added there is still work to be done.

“We have a major round of consultation underway to figure out how we can improve it even more, but we’re going to have to get on with it,” she said.