Toll talk: N.S. border town balks at N.B. budget decision

Some Nova Scotians are critical of proposed tolls in New Brunswick.

The announcement of a new toll station between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is not sitting well with some residents in the border town of Amherst, N.S.

Premier Susan Holt’s government announced the toll in its provincial budget in Fredericton on Tuesday, estimating it would bring in roughly $10.4 million in revenue every year.

A tolling station in the Aulac, N.B., area will open by 2028 and owners of out-of-province vehicles travelling on the Trans-Canada Highway will have to pay a fee.

Amherst Mayor Rob Small said he was caught off guard by the news.

“Well, initially a little shocked frankly. Didn’t expect to hear there would be a toll highway,” said Small. “As you know Nova Scotia has a toll highway that residents of Cumberland County paid for quite a long time. Now that we don’t pay for that we thought we got away from that, but here we’re going to have another toll on the other side of the border that we’re going to have to pay.”

Cumberland County Mayor Rod Gilroy is also concerned saying the Aulac corridor is the only land link that connects Nova Scotia to the rest of the country.

“Any toll placed at this location will have direct and disproportionate impacts on Cumberland County and northern Nova Scotia,” said Gilroy in a news release. “Our communities rely heavily on this corridor for trade, employment, and access to services.”

Provincial spokesperson Jacob MacDonald said the amount for the planned toll station in the Aulac area has yet to be finalized.

“A useful comparison is the Cobequid Pass in Nova Scotia, where the toll is $4 per vehicle and $3.00 per axle,” said MacDonald in an email to CTV News.

Small said a lot of people in the region travel to Moncton’s two hospitals and this will be an added cost for them.

“It’s hard times right now and with the rising cost of living it’s becoming quite difficult for people to cover all the costs,” said Small. “This added tax, because quite frankly that’s what a toll is, it’s a tax and I think unfortunately we’re going to bare the brunt of it here in Cumberland County and Amherst.”

Mikhial Mansour of Mansour’s Menswear thinks the toll is a terrible idea.

“It’s a tax on the local residents here more than it is a tax on people driving through New Brunswick as it is intended. About one third of the workforce from Amherst leaves to go to work in New Brunswick everyday,” said Mansour. “So I think it’s unfair and it will really affect our inter-provincial trade.”

Amherst Theatre manager Nolan Turick thinks if a Nova Scotia resident is working in New Brunswick they shouldn’t have to pay the tolls going back and forth.

“If you’re going for pleasure, it’s a little more understandable,” said Turick. “It’s hard on especially minimum wage workers. It’s hard for them to go back and forth and still make a living.”

Business owner Dale Kearney said there’s a lot of minimum wage people that work between Amherst and Sackville.

“It’s going to cost a fortune for them to go back and forth to work. I wish there was just a way they didn’t have to pay it,” said Kearney. “It’s going to slow sales down also for business in Amherst and probably New Brunswick with the toll. People don’t want to pay extra money to go into a province.”

Halifax resident Spence McCarron is in his fourth year at Mount Allison University in Sackville and frequently travels between the two provinces.

“When I found out about it I just thought it was kind of a silly idea,” said McCarron. “That’ll be a huge inconvenience.”

Political scientist Jamie Gillies said the Holt government is in a tough spot in the current economic climate.

“Unfortunately, with tolls, the timing is just difficult because we’re in an era after the threat of tariffs and the need to build that interprovincial economy with other provinces, so it becomes really difficult, I think for the Holt government to try to do a massive tolling system in this province,” said Gillies.

The exact location of the tolling station is still in the process of being determined.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.