Premier Tim Houston says the placement of tolls on the New Brunswick side of the provincial border would amount to a tariff on Nova Scotians.

Although he has yet to speak directly to New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt on the matter, Houston talked with reporters at Province House for the first time Friday about the issue. The New Brunswick government announced in its recent budget that it plans to have tolls in place on the Trans-Canada Highway in Aulac by 2028.

Houston said all provincial governments are contending with significant financial challenges but he said the idea of a toll that would affect Nova Scotians trying to access the rest of the country is frustrating.

“I understand they’re feeling budget pressure,” he said. “But this is a time when we’re trying to more remove any barriers interprovincially from people and products and stuff. So it’s an unfortunate decision.”

While the premier said officials from his government have been in contact with their New Brunswick counterparts, he’s not discussed it himself with Holt.

Opposition leaders say he needs to.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender called the plan a “terrible idea” that would penalize Nova Scotians for driving the Trans-Canada. Interim Liberal Leader Iain Rankin said tolls would be inappropriate without some kind of justification.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s corresponding with any kind of maintenance in that area,” Rankin told reporters. “It does seem like it’s a revenue grab.”

New Brunswick Finance Minister René Legacy has said the toll could be $3 or $4 for non-New Brunswick drivers and would help generate revenue for his cash-strapped province.

Cumberland North MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, whose constituency runs up against the New Brunswick border, said tolls would unfairly affect her constituents who must make daily trips to New Brunswick for things such as school, work and medical appointments.

“We do not need an extra cost, especially right now,” she told reporters.

Smith-McCrossin noted there’s an agreement that prevents tolls from being placed near the Quebec-New Brunswick border and she wants Houston to argue for something similar for this province.

The Independent MLA said she’s concerned the toll idea could be a result of Houston attempting last year to get New Brunswick to pay more than Nova Scotia toward the cost of upgrading the Chignecto Isthmus, the stretch of land that links the two provinces.

She called on Houston to find an effective way to work with Holt for the benefit of the province.

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