The B.C. Trucking Association says it does not support legislation tabled by the B.C. government that would give the province power to apply fees to U.S. commercial traffic traveling to and from Alaska.

On Thursday, the province passed first reading of its sweeping Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act, which Premier David Eby has characterized as “enabling legislation” — giving the government the power to respond to economic threats from the United States as they arise.

Included in the bill is a section allowing tolls, fees or charges to be applied to both road traffic and to ferries traveling along the coast.

That power, said association president Dave Earle, is one many of his members are worried about.

“The free movement of goods throughout North America is the core of our business,” he told CBC Radio West host Sarah Penton. “Anything that puts that at risk, be it a barrier, time, fee, tax, whatever … that’s always a very serious concern.”

He questioned the practicality of the measure, given how many different entry points there are into B.C. from various provinces and states, any one of which could eventually connect to Yukon and then on to Alaska.

He also pointed out that the province’s own figures, provided by the Ministry of Transportation, show fewer than 10,000 trucks travel through B.C. to Alaska annually — a miniscule figure compared to those that travel through the United States to deliver goods between Mexico and Canada which, he said, raises “the prospect of retaliation.”

“The American president has been very chaotic, I think it’s fair to say, in his approach to things,” Earle said. 

“While there are hundreds of movements of vehicles through British Columbia in any given week to the state of Alaska, there are tens of thousands of truck movements through America from Mexico to Canada moving fruits and vegetables and other goods.”

“We need to be very, very thoughtful about what the impacts of our decisions are.”

Indeed, federal numbers show that Mexico is Canada’s third-largest trading partner, with a relationship that includes more than $2 billion worth of fruits and vegetables coming into the country every year.

In contrast, most of Alaska’s foreign trade is with China, with the majority of goods — more than 90 per cent — coming into the state by boat rather than road, making any action on B.C.’s part more symbolic than practical, Earle said.

Eby conceded the point when asked about it by reporters, saying the main reason he would target Alaska is the fact it has both a Republican governor and congresswoman who “have access to the president” and can “go to the president and say, ‘What are you doing?'”

Legislation will only be used as needed, premier says

Eby has said he would only use the legislation as needed and that there are provisions built in requiring proof that any actions taken through it are the result of the reasonable belief that the province is under threat from a foreign government.

To that end, he said, he had no immediate plans to put tolls in place, but he viewed them as an important option should the trade war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump escalate further, threatening to undermine the provincial economy.

“The current American administration is unpredictable,” he said Thursday. “We, as a government, need to be ready to respond.”

Opposition Leader John Rustad is critical, characterizing the bill as giving the government “the power to do anything they want with no oversight.”

On tolls, he said, the bill failed to specify fees would be aimed at American vehicles and could, in fact be applied to Canadian drivers, which he called “a very slippery slope.”

Hamish Telford, an assistant professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said he understood the concerns of potential overreach but said the proposed legislation seemed to have reasonable safeguards built in.

“We’re in unprecedented times,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to me to be out of line to have legislation that gives our executive the nimbleness to respond more quickly to the actions the president of the United States may take against us.”

Like Earle, he wondered whether Trump might get wind of the potential road fees and escalate in kind, pointing to the recent experience of Ontario Premier Doug Ford around electricity pricing.

“Trade wars tend to escalate,” he said, emphasizing that the root cause of the dispute was Trump. “A lot of people are going to get hurt.”