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Drivers have already been detouring around the Port Mann to try to avoid the tolls since the $3.3-billion bridge and highway project opened in 2012. That’s left the bridge awash in red ink.

The NDP proposal to scrap the tolls would be expensive — almost $200 million a year for government to cover the lost toll revenue on the two bridges. Then you add in the annual deficits on the money-losing structures ($90 million projected for the Port Mann this year and $45 million in most recent figures for the Golden Ears) and the bill climbs above $333 million annually to balance the financial sheets and eliminate the tolls.

The NDP offered few details about the cost or timing of its plan. But most ordinary commuters won’t care anyway. They’ll just be happy to see the tolls eliminated, and not give a hoot about how the provincial government pays for it, even if it takes a significant bite out of the provincial budget. In that sense, the idea is likely to prove a popular vote-getter for New Democrats in several key suburban ridings.

The Liberal toll cap proposal, meanwhile, is estimated to cost $30 million a year. But it too is controversial.

Photo by DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Liberals have stubbornly refused to work with regional mayors on a long-term tolling policy, leaving them open to fair criticism that their sudden interest in tinkering with bridge pricing now is nothing more than crass political manoeuvring rather than good governance.

If you’re wondering why the Liberals didn’t just eliminate the tolls altogether, it’s because the party clearly wants to make fiscal prudence the centrepiece of its election campaign. The full platform Monday is expected to outline only $150 million in new spending on top of what was proposed in February’s $50-billion provincial budget.