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All B.C. taxpayers will share the burden of paying off billions in debt for the Port Mann Bridge and subsidizing the Golden Ears Bridge once tolls are removed from the two structures on Sept. 1.

The elimination of tolls, a move that was quickly criticized by Green party Leader Andrew Weaver and the Liberal opposition, was a high-profile campaign promise of Premier John Horgan’s and will see daily bridge commuters save hundreds of dollars per year.

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Standing next to the Fraser River with the Port Mann visible in the background on Friday morning, Horgan called the tolls “unfair” to people south of the Fraser and said the debt from building the bridge will be transferred to B.C.’s taxpayer-supported debt load and paid for out of general revenue.

“This is traditionally how all infrastructure has been paid for across British Columbia, with the exception of the Coquihalla improvements that were made in the 1980s,” Horgan told reporters. “We can manage that within our fiscal framework and that will not have an impact, we believe, in our discussions with bond traders. It will not have an impact on our borrowing costs.”