HALIFAX, N.S. — A highway running to Cape Breton through northern Nova Scotia now shares top billing with the province’s so-called death highway on the Conservative government’s priority list.

“Highways 101 and 104 are both top priorities for the government of Nova Scotia,” Transportation Minister Michael Baker says.

Just what the provincial government considers its most important infrastructure project has been the subject of political and public debate for months.

The discussion was brought into sharp focus recently with word that a highway funding deal with the federal government is imminent.

Both Baker and Premier John Hamm had not been clear, when asked directly, to name the government’s top priority for spending the highway money.

Baker’s statement this week is the first clear admission of the Tories’ dual priorities.