In the House of Commons Jasbir Sandhu, NDP MP for Surrey North, demanded that the Minister of Transportation and the Conservative government take steps to ensure that there are no tolls for the proposed upgrades to the Pattullo Bridge.

“Residents in Surrey North agree that the upgrade is long overdue, however they are also rightly concerned about the proposed toll to pay for the upgrade”, said Sandhu. “With a toll already in place on the new Port Mann Bridge, residents of Surrey are being unfairly targeted and are running out of options to commute without being charged at every pass. The upgrade is more than what municipalities and Translink can afford. Stephen Harper and the Conservative government need to step up to the plate on infrastructure funding, and the federal government needs to pay their fair share”.
This is not the first time that Sandhu has addressed the issue of lack of infrastructure funding for British Columbians. In April, in a question posed to the House of Commons about the Conservative Budget 2013, Sandhu mentioned that cuts to infrastructure will disproportionally affect the growing areas of British Columbia.

Sandhu will be paying close attention to the outcome of the joint Pattullo Bridge Review taking place over the month of June in Surrey and New Westminster, and will be pushing hard for an outcome where Surrey taxpayers do not have the added burden of paying for another toll bridge.