FOR WHOM THE BRIDGE TOLLS
One of the NDP’s most popular promises in the 2017 provincial election was to scrap the tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges, an appealing idea for Lower Mainland commuters. But few know it was a promise made up on the fly during one frantic mor
NDP campaign director Bob Dewar picked up his copy of The Province newspaper on his way to campaign headquarters, scanned the front page, stopped, and then swore. On the cover of the April 9 edition was a headline: “Liberals pledge cap on bridge tolls.”
The B.C. Liberals were first out of the gate on what would become one of the most important issues of the 2017 B.C. election campaign — providing relief for the pocketbooks of Metro Vancouver voters, and in particular the suburban ridings south of the Fraser River, like Surrey.
The party’s promise to cap tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges at $500 could save daily commuters more than $1,000 a year.
Dewar absorbed the news and cursed again. With only one month to voting day, he knew he had to make a risky move. As he entered the campaign office, several staffers came up to ask him worried questions about the Liberal announcement.
“What are we going to do?” one person asked.
Dewar turned and said, simply, “We’re going to get rid of the tolls.”
Campaign policy adviser Jon Robinson entered the director’s office as Dewar looked up from his desk.
“Find out how to pay for it,” Dewar ordered. “Find out how to do it. But we’re doing it.”
And so one of the most important moments in the entire election campaign for B.C. New Democrats — scrapping bridge tolls for Metro Vancouver drivers — was actually a policy made up on the fly in a spurof-the-moment reaction to their Liberal political opponents. Fewer than five hours later, NDP Leader John Horgan would announce the party’s position to thunderous applause at a rally in Surrey. From crisis to policy pivot in three hundred minutes.
Both the Liberals and the NDP had identified a key to winning the entire election: picking up the many ridings south of the Fraser River, such as vote-rich Surrey, where they’d need to give ordinary voters some type of financial relief on the tolls they faced to drive over the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges every day.
Surrey residents felt it was unfair that they got dinged in the wallet every time they wanted to get downtown to watch a Canucks game, visit Stanley Park, or attend a concert.
Unbeknownst to each other, both the Liberals and the NDP had settled on exactly the same policy to run on in the 2017 campaign: an annual cap on tolls. The Liberals had debated the amount, between $750 and $500 a year, and whether it could be a tax credit or hard cap, before Clark herself stepped in with a firm decision on a $500 cap.
“Eliminating the tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears crossings is one way we will put money back in commuters’ pockets.” — JOHN HORGAN
Completely eliminating bridge tolls had never been the NDP’s internal position. The cap they’d settled on internally was a 50-percent cut to the toll rate, which, for daily users, would have been a less generous offer than what the Liberals were offering. The party had concluded, much like the Liberals, that the costs would be too high to scrap the tolls outright. Both were also concerned that if you eliminated the tolls that kept the bridges financially solvent, they would no longer be considered self-supporting entities, and it would mean absorbing billions in bridge debt back into the books of the provincial government, potentially imperilling its AAA credit rating.
For Dewar, the bridge toll issue was bigger than just Surrey votes. A key theme of the NDP campaign was affordability — giving voters a break in their pocketbooks from years of increased costs that had added up under Liberal rule. He wasn’t going to let his opponents outflank him on such a key issue before the race had even begun.
After Dewar’s decision, the NDP’s platform committee of MLA Carole James and Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs scrambled to make the numbers work. When they thought they’d had it figured out — a loose plan to empty the $500-million Liberal prosperity fund to at least pay for at least the first three years of scrapped bridge tolls — they gave the green light.
When Horgan took the stage in front of the large crowd in Surrey to kick off his campaign, he made the stunning announcement that as premier he’d get rid of bridge tolls in Metro Vancouver entirely.
“We’re going to give Lower Mainland commuters a break,” Horgan said to cheering and raucous supporters. “Eliminating the tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears crossings is one way that we will put money back in commuters’ pockets and get people moving again.”
The announcement put the Liberals on their heels. It turned the media spotlight to the NDP at an early stage, and it established the fact that the NDP was serious about being bold in the election campaign.
Nobody realized the entire policy had been scrapped and rewritten in one morning. Internally, the quick thinking of Dewar had also sent a message to veteran B.C. New Democrats, many of whom were used to the slow, plodding, cumbersome pace of platform development within the party. This campaign would be unafraid to take risks.