Major cost reduction for the bridge and ferry to the Magdalen Islands

Tolls to cross the Confederation Bridge and ferry costs to reach the Magdalen Islands by car will be radically reduced, at a cost of $100 million in federal public funds per year.

Starting Friday, it will cost $20 instead of $50.25 to ride on the Confederation Bridge, which connects Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick.

Even more notable, the price for the Madeleine II ferry, which runs between Souris, Prince Edward Island, and the Cap-aux-Meules wharf in the Magdalen Islands, has been cut in half: from $110.50 to $55.

For Marc Carney, it's about reducing costs for Atlantic Canadians, businesses and tourists.

"We're going to have to make it more affordable for people and businesses to travel across this country," he said in Prince County, with the famous 8-mile bridge in the background.

The price reduction will also apply to three other interprovincial ferries operated by private companies, but which Ottawa still owns.

The total cost of the measures announced today, promised during the election campaign, amounts to approximately $100 million per year.

"That's $100 million that will go back into the economy, [...] that will catalyze investment and forge deeper connections," Carney said.

Opened in 1997, the Confederation Bridge is very important to the Prince Edward Island economy: according to Ottawa, it serves between 90 and 95% of the passenger and freight traffic in this province of 180,000 people.

Around 3,000 vehicles cross it every day, representing more than 1 million crossings each year.