Having travelled many places by car both in Canada and the U.S. it sometimes is a necessity to pay toll bridge and toll road fees.  Like many motorists, I recognize the need to have such toll systems as part of defraying costs which would otherwise be borne by taxpayers.  However, Prince Edward Island $45 toll on its Confederation Bridge takes the cake.

This $45 toll bridge is a testament of how easy going Islanders really are!  It is also a testament of just how unfair the Atlantic Provinces can be treated.

Now, lets be serious here.  Montreal's new Champlain Bridge like the Confederation Bridge is a Public-Private Partnership,  PEI Senator Percy Downe remarked that this new Bridge is more expensive than the Confederation Bridge.  However, would that mean Montrealers would need to therefore perhaps pay a $50 toll?  Off course not.  Montrealers wouldn't put up with that, and any government which make such a suggestion would lose tons of seats at the ballot box.

However, Islanders and tourists are polite as they are, with far less voting clout in population are being made to pay toll not when they get on the Island, but every time they decide to leave the Island on the only land crossing to "mainland Canada".

To add insult, this $45 toll is along the Trans Canada Highway which is supposed to theoretically be a free public highway system across Canada.

Any toll more than $5 - $10 to exit PEI, and especially along the Trans Canada Highway is completely ridiculous.

Islanders should be treated no differently than any large urban population centre in Canada that has a similarly priced bridge like Montreal or road system.

Islanders should not be subjugated to such crazy tolls simply because they are polite and because they don't have the same amount of votes to topple the government.

If Islanders must endure $45 tolls shouldn't Montrealers when their even more expensive Champlain Bridge is completed?