Vehicle fees take big jump

P.E.I. has increased the fees Islanders pay driver's licences and vehicle registrations.

Finance Minister Wes Sheridan said fees would move closer to the Maritime average.

"We just looked to see where we were," said Sheridan.

"How long ago it had been increased, and then where we would stand with regard to the Maritime average."

Calculations by CBC News show in some cases the province has overshot the mark. Some of the fees Islanders pay are now the highest in the Maritimes. Registration of a light passenger vehicle now costs $100 a year, about 20 per cent more than in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.

A driver's licence costs $70 every three years, more than one-and-a-half times the cost in Nova Scotia.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation said its calculations were made against an Atlantic average, which brings registration fees in line, but licence fees are still the highest in the region. The department said it had to factor in cost recovery, and it noted registration for farm vehicles are significantly lower than the other provinces.

Opposition leader Olive Crane had her own way of describing the way the province came to the new fees.

"It's Wesonomics math. It's another tax grab, no different than Robert Ghiz's HST tax on Islanders," said Crane.

"When you think about the hardship they're causing to ordinary Islanders, they'll actually slow the economy down."

Islanders say they'll feel the pinch.

"It's like everything else, groceries are going up, everything's going up," said Jody Trainor. "People are losing their jobs. I don't know what's going to become of it.

Mike Dennis was at the Service PEI office in Charlottetown Tuesday to turn inthe plates for one of the two vehicles used by his family business, because he couldn't afford to operate the vehicle anymore ***

"I'm a middle-class guy that struggles from paycheque to paycheque every day. Every time something else goes up, it just brings me down just a little bit more. So I have to work more hours," Dennis said.

The increased fees, along with other fee-for-service increases, are expected to bring in an extra $7 million this year.

Government plans to have fees go up automatically from now on, based on annual inflation rates.