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But in exchange, the Liberals backed off on their demands for an overall rate rollback.
The deal allows 407 ETR to raise tolls again once the rebate program for regular users is in place, which is expected before Jan.
1, 2007 and no later than March 31, 2007.
Takhar said the Liberals couldn't roll back rates because of the contract signed by a former Conservative government.
He said that deal sold the highway to private interests but didn't give the province any leeway to influence rate changes.
"This was a very bad contract.
If we had to sign this contract, we would have never accepted these kinds of terms,'' Takhar said of the 1999 agreement signed by the government of former premier Mike Harris.
"It tied our hands,'' he continued.
"We took this issue to the courts and we fought them..n.but unfortunately because of the way the contracts were, we lost.
"In spite of all that, we were still able to negotiate significant improvements for drivers.''
But Conservative Leader John T...
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