Should the operators of the 407 be allowed to increase tolls as they see fit?

[andrewemilio]

[QUOTE]TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario government was given permission Monday to appeal a court ruling that allows the operators of the province's only toll highway to increase tolls without government consent.

The Ontario Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal a decision by the Ontario Superior Court in January that upheld 407 ETR's right to set tolls on Highway 407 north of Toronto.

The highway is owned by a consortium including Montreal construction firm SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC - news), released a statement saying they will contest the government's appeal.

"We already have had two decisions in our favour on this dispute," said Enrique Diaz-Rato, president and chief executive of 407 ETR. "However, we remain very confident in our legal position and look forward to having the issue heard by the Court of Appeal as soon as possible."

The current Liberal government wants to renegotiate the 99-year lease on the 108-kilometre highway, which the previous Conservative government signed with the consortium on the eve of the 1999 election.

The deal netted $3.1 billion for the province; 407 ETR says it gives them the unfettered right to increase tolls in accordance with increases in traffic volume. The province disagrees.[/QUOTE]

The deal was a sick deal and should never of happened but the 99 year contract is here to stay and there should be some sort of measure of control over why tolls should be increased.

[cliff]

yes, but the pevious government signed the 99 year lease and screwed us for the rest of our lives (like the traffic volumes will ever go down when the increase the length of the road + all the new people moving into the GTA), so no.

[Diune]

Never used the POS anyways so I could care less. Never have and never will.

[hagbard]

No gov't say and death to commie worms. :twisted:

:)

[konfusion666]

[QUOTE=hagbard]No gov't say and death to commie worms. :twisted:

:)[/QUOTE]

Actually, if you hate the commie worms, shouldn't you have said "Yes"?

[Ojam]

The questions and answers are reversed, the title would lead to a yes, but what is actually the yes answer isn't a yes to the question in the title.

[→ElectroLux←]

Yes, leave them charge whatever they want and then they will soon discover that only possums and skunks will be crossing their highway, a highway should never be made pay-toll in a country with such an exaggerated tax on just about everything. What a rip-off, it was made from our own money anyways.

Anyways, where's my camera-busting reflective spray-paint that I use in my licence plates? :twisted:

[Tsukagi]

bah, stupid gov't sold it...what can u do...gotta pay for what u use.

[webdoctors]

thdey could if it was a private road but its NOT, hence i still can get speeding tickets on it :mad:

since its leased from da gov, they need to get gov permission :D