Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 18/01) - A proposed toll on NWT highways will allow the government to spend three times as much on the road system over then next four years.
That's the good news.The bad news is the cost of the toll will also likely result in a $2.2 million annual increase in the cost of food and other consumer goods.
"It will have some impact on all people, there's no question about that," said Finance Minister Joe Handley. "But it's very difficult to know exactly what the impact would be."
More than 70 per cent of toll revenue will come from transport associated with non-renewable resource development. All of the money will be put in a fund dedicated to highway development, which will be paid for directly out of the fund or through money borrowed against it.
"We believe that industry has the ability to write off these costs through the process they have to pay royalties," said Transportation Minister Vince Steen.
Steen said the toll could be written off as a business expense, bringing down the amount of royalties mining, oil and gas companies pay to the federal government.
Industry isn't so sure about that.
"It sucks," said Terry Clements. "They get enough money out of us already," said the president of Winalta Transport, an Edmonton firm that does some trucking in the North.
Clements said a typical trip from Edmonton to Yellowknife in a nine-axle truck costs upwards of $7,000 right now.
Under a preliminary pricing scheme, the toll would add another $1,100 to the trip, a cost Clements said would be passed on to customers.
Handley said an analysis of the impact the toll would have on the cost-of-living was done on four areas: gasoline, heating fuel, groceries and miscellaneous goods.
Asked if a proposed increase in northern cost-of-living tax credit will be enough to offset the price hikes, Handley said, "right now it looks like it will exceed it."
