Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Sep 21/01) - In a 5-3 vote, town council gave a thumbs down to the territorial government's proposed highway toll or permit fee.

Council listened to a presentation Sept. 10 on the proposal from Transportation Minister Vince Steen and two other officials.

Under two pieces of legislation, Bills 9 and 10, which have passed second reading in the assembly, a toll would be established, which would be paid into a highway improvement fund, allowing the GNWT to spend an additional $100 million over four years on highway maintenance.

About $20 million of those new dollars would be spent on the Dempster Highway.

Council debated the issue Sept. 12.

Coun. Denny Rodgers moved the motion for the town to approve the toll that was defeated.

"I don't like passing a living increase any more than anybody else," Rodgers said.

"The people it's hitting first of all is the people that use that highway and do the most damage to it, which are the trucking companies, the trucks," he said.

"I know it will be passed on to the consumer," Rodgers said.

"The reality of it is I think it's the only option. I think it's a decent option."

Coun. Don Craik also supported the tolls, agreeing with Rodgers that something must be done to improve the Dempster Highway.

Also voting in support of the tolls, though reluctantly, was Coun. Garry Smith.

"I would like to see another alternative put on the table," Smith said.

The other five councillors voted against Rodgers' motion. Coun. George Doolittle echoed Smith's concerns about alternatives to the toll, and he expressed concerns that the government's cost projections are too low.

Doolittle said that it doesn't matter to the consumer whether they lose $5 directly or indirectly (such as trucking firms passing on toll costs).

"I think it was proposed as a done deal," Doolittle said.

"As it was presented, I didn't like it at all and am very opposed to it."

Coun. Clarence Wood said the territorial government has apparently not tried hard enough to find alternatives to a highway toll. He also said the toll will impact the hardest on low income and middle income people.

"If it's such a good idea, why are so many private industry groups opposed to it? They're going to pass on the costs," Wood said.

"There's no way I'll ever support this."

Coun. Vince Sharpe was even more blunt about the toll and Steen's presentation.

"They fed us a pack of lies," Sharpe said.

He expressed skepticism about Department of Finance figures stating that Inuvik residents would see a $21 annual increase in groceries due to the toll.

Talked with people

Deputy mayor Arlene Hansen said that like most other councillors, she talked with a lot of people on the toll issue.

"I didn't get comments from not even one person that thought it was a fair tax or user fee," Hansen said.

She said she drove the Dempster this summer and that on the way out it was perhaps the worst she's ever seen it, and she understands the need for highway maintenance.

However, Hansen said, "Most of the work being done is in the southern area and a lot of those roads are in substantially better shape than ours."

She expressed another concern about the toll, which is not to be permanent.

"Once this has been implemented, it's going to be there forever and ever, 'til death us do part."

Hansen suggested some items, such as food and clothing, be exempt from the toll. Coun. Richard Binder agreed this should be looked into.

"My biggest fear is if we do (enact a toll), then if the Yukon does it and Alberta and B.C. do it, no doubt we'll be looking at a substantial increase," Binder said.

The town is to send a letter to the standing committee on governance and economic development, which held hearings on Bills 9 and 10 in Inuvik in late August.