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Where and when is a toll bridge not a toll bridge? In Quebec, during a federal general election, of course.

Percy Downe, the senator from Prince Edward Island, is upset that islanders have to pay $46.50 to use the Confederation Bridge, yet commuters in Montreal will have to pay zero dollars to cross the new Champlain Bridge being built across the St. Lawrence.

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Downe, who used to be chief of staff to Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien, quizzed Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi when he appeared before the Senate last week on whether the new $4.8-billion Gordie Howe Bridge between Windsor and Detroit will be paid for by tolls.

Sohi confirmed it will be, but that the precise amount is not yet available because “you want to structure it in a way where there’s not too much burden on the immediate users.”

Yet by any measure, $46.50 to leave the Prince Edward Island is a burden. When Justin Trudeau was on his cross-country tour in January he visited Peterborough, Ont., where he was asked by a student from P.E.I. if there is anything the federal government can do to alleviate the cost for islanders.