"We absolutely want to see it go into public hands"

As we all know, it's impossible to have private enterprise run things like roads and bridges, because they could deny access to the public:

Some are worried that new private owners could let the bridge — it's actually two connected bridges — deteriorate, or could hike tolls. Current tolls, collected only on northbound traffic, are $6 per car, more for trucks, but officials on both sides of the border wouldn't mind if the tolls were scrapped altogether.

"We absolutely want to see it go into public hands," said Fort Frances Mayor Dan Onichuk. "It's the main channel for northwestern Ontario for Canadians going into the States and vice-versa."

Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton agreed the bridge should be in public hands, and said he too was worried tolls could be hiked to the point that they hurt both tourism and the forestry sector in the northwestern part of the province.

"You can kill a lot of jobs and that kills a lot of economic activity," he warned.

Clearly this is a situation that can't be allowed to continue: why, a private owner might raise the tolls! Unlike the current private owners . . . who've owned the bridge since it was built in 1908.