The B.C. government has introduced a new retaliatory measure on goods to Alaska.
It is the latest move in a trade war with the United States as President Donald Trump brings in new tariffs against Canada.
The Act, called the Economic Stabilisation Tariff Response Act, when passed, has multiple main parts.
The first puts into legislation an ability for the province to remove interprovincial trade barriers.
The second is around procurement, meaning public sector entities must try to secure goods from B.C. and Canada first, then they can look outside the United States and, only if necessary, buy the products from the United States.
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The third piece puts the mechanism to apply a toll or a fee for vehicles, commercial and personal, that will be travelling across B.C. to get to Alaska.
“This bill provides a range of authorities to enable the government to quickly respond to the recent unprecedented threats to our province from the United States,” Niki Sharma, B.C.’s Attorney General and Deputy Premier said in the legislature on Thursday.
“The proposed legislation will serve as an important tool to help us respond in four different ways. The bill will provide broad tools to reduce or eliminate barriers to interprovincial trade. It will provide clear and express authority for government to issue directives to (a) broad range of public sector entities in relation to procurement.
“It will create mechanisms that are designed to allow government to impose a system of tolls, fees or other charges on vehicles using certain B.C. infrastructure, such as highways and coastal ferries, and it will provide a broad effects of flexible power to government to address challenges to B.C. arising from the actions of a foreign jurisdiction to support inter-provincial cooperation and reducing trade barriers within Canada, and to support the economy of B.C. and Canada.”
The Act will also include a sunset clause where it will expire on May 28, 2027, unless it is extended.
The Act will not come into effect immediately and the issue of interprovincial trade barriers changing is contingent on other provinces putting in place similar legislation.
“The specific vehicles and routes we are looking at currently are from Washington state to supply Alaska, and it is a very specific reason we are looking at that,” B.C. Premier David Eby said on Thursday at a press conference.
“It’s not because we hate Alaskans, it’s because there is a Republican governor and a Republican congresswoman, and they have access to the President, they have the ability to deliver the message for us, how integrated we are. In fact, the Alaska highway was built in partnership between Canada and the U.S.”
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