Cross Border Shopping Concerns

The Executive Director of Castlegar's Chamber of Commerce calls new duty-free limits announced by the Federal government alarming for local business.

Starting June 1st Canadians can bring back $200 worth of goods on trips to the US longer than 24 hours, and $800 for stays of 48-hours or longer.

Pam Mcleod says there has been a concerted effort to encourage "shop local" campaigns and a large number of people already travel through our local crossings for short-term visits to the United States. She says statistics from the last two years show same-day visits by Canadians across the Paterson and Waneta crossings run around 4,700 to 6,700 per day.

Mcleod can't speculate as to how many of those travellers are from our local area, but figures some of those short-term trips are being taken by people in search of American goods.

She says our area's proximity to the border, combined with the strong Canadian dollar, and  makes the announcement challenging for local business.