As it happens5:26The owner of a customs -exempt store says that business is suffering because Canadians are avoiding the United States
If he does not pick up work soon in his store, andRick Laboint says he will have to put people.
“I had three clients today so far,” the store owner said. As it happens Nil Kӧksal host on Friday afternoon. “It is a small part of what we usually at this time of the year.”
Laboint says that the work decreased by 60 percent during the same time period of last year in horse taxes of boutique de la Pius near the Quebec borders with Maine.
It is not alone. Travel -exempt stores throughout the country, which are still recovering from friendly travel restrictions, report huge declines in business in recent months as Canadians are increasingly avoiding travel to the United States
Licensed by the Canadian Border Services Agency At 52 of the land borders and international airports in Canada, the customs -exempted stores sell products, including tax -exempt wine, to the border travelers, and they cannot be lawful for delivery or online sales.
“If we do not have anyone traveling to the United States, we do not have agents,” said Laboennt.
Less trips in the south
Sales in customs -exempted stores have decreased between 40 and 50 percent throughout the country since late January, as some crossings have been reported remotely to a decrease of 80 percent, according to the Frontir Duty Free Association, which represents 32 such stores.
“I just fell from the abyss,” said Barbara Barrett, Executive Director of the Association. “It is very dark.”
The number of return trips between Canadians traveling to the United States in March It decreased compared to the previous yearAccording to Canada statistics. Air travel decreased by 13.5 percent, while land travel decreased by 32 percent.
The decline coincides Axis for local tourism When US President Donald Trump launches a commercial war with Canada and other countries, he performs repeated threats to Canada.
Many Canadians also told CBC that they canceled the flights because of They are afraid of increasing scrutiny by US border guardsSomething The Canadian government warned the travelers.
The Canadian Jasmine Money was recently Closed at an 11 -day American detention facility On the difficulties with the request to renew the American visa, and since then it has been described that it has been kept in horrific circumstances. German tourists and Track from Wales It has also been detained in recent months.
What is more, the decline in the land across the border goes in both directions. The US population visits fell 11 percent in the past month compared to the previous year, the second consecutive month of decline on an annual basis.
“It seems as if the Americans are shy to come to Canada,” said Philip Bakhand, who runs a business -free store in South Montreal. Boos, which the American sports teams received in Canada. “This does not welcome.”
It calls for help
With the customs -exempted stores at the intersection of the trade war and geopolitical tensions that exceed its control, the boundary -free border association calls on the federal government to provide support in the form of grants or loans to ride the disturbance.
The association says that many of these stores are still recovering from the loss of the epidemic.
“I just woke up from my Covid’s waste, and I have a tariff nightmare,” said John Sole.
Osoyus’s second -generation store owner, BC, said he is struggling to keep his work standing on his feet in the midst of Trump’s trade war with Canada. As traffic across the border decreased, Cameron Bissonite said he did not know how much time he would be able to pay his employees.
Cameron Bissonite is afraid that he will have to close his graphic store in Osuius, British Columbia, which has been in his family since the 1980s, which he intended to transfer to his children.
During a recent interview with CBC News, He collapsed by crying while discussing the future of his family business, who says he has already decreased from 15 employees to only three employees.
“I have reached a point that you must have a real moment of calculation,” he said.
The mayor of Osoyoos Sue Mckortoff told CBC that if the store closes, this will affect the community as well.
She said: “The duty without fees is one of the best companies in the city.” “They were very supportive of the city. They rented people in the city.”
Meanwhile, Lapointe says that if sales do not collide with a long weekend on the loud Easter, he will have no choice but to allow workers to leave.
He says he does not want to lose his work, and he is dear to his heart.
“I started working here in 1990 as a student, then I became the assistant director, then the manager for 20 years and bought the store three years ago,” he said.
“For me, this store is my home.”
With Canadian press files and CBC BC interview with Eric Lapointe produced by Leïla ahouman.
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