CECI BALKS AT HIGHWAY TOLLS
Finance minister dodges economic guru’s suggestion that road users pay
The New Democrats are using former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge as their mighty shield when it comes to warding off sharp criticism of their big spending plans.
Premier Rachel Notley hired Dodge last summer, at a cost of $64,000, to write report on how best to proceed with the economy. The NDP is certainly getting its money’s worth. If anyone criticizes the government for borrowing tens of billions, Notley and her New Democrat colleagues can reply, “Well, the experienced and credible Dodge said our plan was reasonable.”
In NDP Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s budget address, he invoked just two names as authorities on how to budget correctly: Alberta’s hallowed former Conservative premier Peter Lougheed and Dodge.
For all that, however, there is one key Dodge recommendation that Ceci rejects: bringing in toll roads on major new Alberta road projects.
In Dodge’s newly released report, he says the main beneficiaries of any particular highway are the users, but the construction and maintenance costs fall on all taxpayers. “The use of municipal roads and provincial highways is provided free of charge to the users while competing forms of transportation (rail, air, and in part municipal transit) must be paid for by the passengers or shippers.”
Tolls — which can now be charged electronically rather than having to stop to pay at a booth — could be based on how much drivers use a road, size of their vehicles, and whether or not they’re travelling at a busy time, with drivers paying more to drive in rush hour.
As of 2012, and not including international crossings, Canada had only eight toll bridges and less than 0.25 per cent of Canada’s paved public roads had tolls, a University of Calgary report says.
Tolls could go only on new roads, Dodge suggested. “Thus, the Alberta government should give serious consideration to setting user fees for the Calgary and Edmonton ring roads … Cities could begin by imposing tolls only on major upgrades.
“Road tolls (especially if the charge was higher during rush hours) would reduce congestion costs through a financial incentive to use other modes of transport and avoid periods of high tolls … Road tolls would also raise the cost of driving in major cities, thus encouraging people to use public transit and making it feasible for transit authorities to charge higher fares.”
Before the provincial budget was introduced Tuesday, Dodge expanded on his argument. “We in Canada have just not been very used to tolling and historically it’s been very awkward because toll roads are very awkward things. Today, we can actually do it in a very efficient and non-cumbersome way. So my view is that tolling of roads, just like we toll water, like we toll electricity, like we toll pipelines, and, of course, like we toll urban transit at the fare box, but over time we in this country, not just in Alberta, we are going to have to move and should move to tolling.”
Dodge makes a lot of sense. But this is one recommendation the NDP rejects.
When asked about it, Ceci said Dodge had specifically mentioned putting tolls only new projects, but Alberta doesn’t have any. “So I don’t see (it) happening.”
I asked Ceci about tolls on the new, $2.8-billion southwest leg of the Calgary ring road, which hasn’t started construction.
“The other legs of the ring road are all freeflowing and I don’t think it would work if we did anything on that leg,” Ceci said. “You probably would find you’d built a lot of infrastructure and it wouldn’t get used.”
Ceci evidently needs to again read Dodge’s report. The report specifically mentions putting tolls on Calgary and Edmonton’s ring roads and also mentions just how smoothly the new electronic charging technologies operate.
But it’s no surprise that Ceci is hesitant. Many drivers would be outraged at having to pay more of the real cost of the driving they do. And they would savage any politician who suggested it.
I asked Dodge for his take on why governments are so shy about tolls.
“I think it’s understandable because it’s in your face,” he said. “We would have a hell of time collecting income tax if you had to write a cheque every month to the government. We can collect income tax because it’s off your pay cheque.”
While Ceci and the NDP run from tolls today, the debate isn’t going away.
And just as Dodge is right that major borrowing is needed to build needed infrastructure now, he also nails it on tolls.