Campobello Island residents given tariff exemption for cross border shopping
Residents say tariff exemption relieves a lot of stress and anxiety crossing the border
Residents of New Brunswick's tiny Campobello Island feeling held hostage by the tariff war between Canada and the U.S. can finally return to their cross-border shopping ways.
The federal Department of Finance has announced a special exemption on U.S. consumer and household products Campobello Island residents bring in from neighbouring Maine, "in recognition of the island's unique situation."
Campobello sits in the Bay of Fundy, connected to the mainland only by a bridge to Lubec, Maine, where residents get most of the groceries, gas and supplies that aren't available on the island.
For more than a month, residents returning to Campobello have been paying the 25 per cent tariff that officers of the Canada Border Services Agency ask for.
The tariff has been Canada's way of fighting back against U.S. tariffs and encouraging Canadians to spend their money at home. Islanders with limited options became collateral damage.
"All of a sudden it removes the whole discomfort with the CBSA officers," said Campobello Island resident Zoltan Szoges, who was buying groceries in Lubec when CBC News told him about the announcement from Ottawa on Tuesday.
"This will be the la.st tariffed groceries going to Campobello."
Szoges said he had been calling government officials at all levels trying to plead the case for island residents but still was pleasantly surprised to hear the exemption was granted for the population of fewer than 1,000 people.
"I don't want to be in a weird, awkward standoff with government employees because I'm buying milk," he said. "I have anxiety, and dealing with unclear situations with border officers is not fun for me, right? And I'm sure it's also not fun for them to be charging their neighbours money that they didn't previously have to pay."
Szoges said the tariffs weren't just dividing Canadians and Americans, it was also polarizing for island residents.
"You have the people … who are like, 'Well, I'll just pay it, and it's my duty for the greater good.' And you have other families who are, you know, struggling dollar to dollar and 25 per cent even on some products is enough to be really detrimental. And all of a sudden those people are pitted against each other."
Harvey Matthews was also surprised to hear the news. As Campobello mayor, he didn't know the exemption was coming until he got a call from a reporter. He said he's used to that as a small-town mayor and said the important thing is that the residents know, and the people who work at customs.
He said the tariffs have been random, and he's glad people can now come and go "without being harassed."
"Just last week, my wife comes through and had to pay $34 in tariffs … on Canadian and Mexican goods." He said she paid it anyway "just to prove a point," about how flawed the tariffs were.
"I think it's certain officers, they charge it no matter what and then you get other ones that were using a little bit of discretion."
"I guess they all don't have to even worry about it, thankfully."
Longtime Campobello resident Ron Beckwith said crossing the border this past month has been nerve-wracking, and you were "never quite sure where you stood from trip to trip."
"People have been very anxious about it, you know, not knowing from one trip to the next whether you were kind of going to trigger a reaction or whether you were going to be OK. Some of it depending on the temperament of the officer on duty."
It's been especially hard for seniors, he said, who aren't always able to make the hour-long drive through the state of Maine to cross back into Canada at the Calais-St. Stephen border to do their shopping there.
He said it will also mean "a lot to our friends and neighbours in Lubec as well."
"Those businesses were suffering as a result of this as well, because people were slowing down their purchases in Lubec. Certainly the hardware store, I've heard that first hand … And also with the grocery.
"So it's going to be welcome news on both sides of the border."
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