Ottawa cuts Confederation Bridge tolls, ferry fares in Atlantic Canada

Prime Minister Mark Carney says that tolls on Prince Edward Island's Confederation Bridge will be reduced starting Aug. 1, along with a handful of other Atlantic travel fees.

Starting Friday, the bridge toll for an average vehicle will drop from $50.25 to $20.

The government is also cutting fares in half for passengers, vehicles and commercial traffic on federally supported Eastern Canada ferry services, and eliminating all fuel surcharges for those services.

Marine Atlantic, a constitutionally mandated ferry service connecting Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, will reduce traveller fares by 50 per cent and freeze commercial freight rates.

The Marine Atlantic service is responsible for carrying 65 per cent of the goods that travel to and from Newfoundland.

Carney says the fee reductions are meant to boost interprovincial mobility — part of the government's plan to reduce internal trade barriers in response to the U.S. trade war.