A bunch of mayors from cities and cities hugging the Canada-U.S. border is looking on the Canadian federal authorities for assist as cross-border political tensions and tariff uncertainties create hardship for his or her communities.
The eight mayors comprising the Border Mayors Alliance sounded the alarm at a nationwide on-line information convention on Friday. They are saying their native economies, jobs and companies are in danger, particularly because the tariff conflict with the U.S. has come on heels of the pandemic.
“We have been canine paddling now for the final 4 or 5 years due to COVID, and this [U.S. tariffs] is the very last thing we wanted to occur,” mentioned Mike Bradley, mayor of Sarnia, Ont. “We’re feeling the ache and we’re on the entrance line … so we don’t need to be left behind.”
Obligation-free shops face ‘literal demise’
The mayors say their communities depend on cross-border companies corresponding to duty-free shops to bolster their economies.
Barbara Barrett, the manager director of the Frontier Obligation Free Affiliation (FDFA), says duty-free shops, which rely utterly on cross-border journey, now face “literal demise” amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened and imposed tariffs on Canadian items.
Dave Carlson, reeve of the Manitoba municipality of Emerson-Franklin, says the duty-free retailer in Emerson is a important cog within the native financial system and employs greater than 20 individuals, one of many greatest employers within the city of about 675 individuals, in response to 2016 Census data..
Carlson believes the cross-country messaging to “Purchase Canadian” is hurting the alliance’s communities.
“We’re hoping that the federal authorities can, before later, get to the bargaining desk and get this resolved, as a result of this has gone far too lengthy with rhetoric saying ‘Do not store U.S., do not go to the US,’ Carlson mentioned.
“That impacts a whole lot of jobs, a whole lot of companies and a whole lot of communities, so our hopes are that we are able to get previous this before later.”
There are 32 duty-free shops throughout Canada, working in seven provinces, in response to a 2024 report by the FDFA.
Obligation-free shops characterize roughly $35 million a 12 months in federal, provincial and native taxes, with operators investing a complete of greater than $60 million in border communities, the report says.
Cameron Bissonnette, a second-generation duty-free store proprietor in Osoyoos, B.C., teared up whereas explaining the dire state of affairs of his enterprise throughout the present local weather. He says he misplaced $67 someday final week, that means no transactions have been carried out apart from a refund.
“I have not collected a paycheque from my enterprise since June of final 12 months. Now it is attending to the purpose the place I am questioning how for much longer can I pay my workers,” Bissonette mentioned.
Trina Jones, the mayor of Woodstock, N.B., says the provinces and Ottawa have to “act rapidly and neatly” to assist companies in border communities corresponding to hers earlier than it is too late.
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