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THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012
FOLK FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 25 YEARS Early bird ticket deadline for July’s event fast approaching
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Flood risk downgraded in the Valley
Mission retailers worry about new duty-free limits BY JASON ROESSLE Mission Record
Local retailers are anticipating even more business lost due to cross-border shopping after duty-free rules changes June 1. The duty-free limit for visits to the U.S. longer than 24 hours rose from $50 to $200. Stays 48 hours or longer will qualify for $800 in duty-free purchases, up from $400 previously for visits up to a week. According to Mission’s Carlo Billinger, it’s impossible for Canadian retailers to compete with Americans on pricing. “It’s an unfair playing field,” said the coowner of Rex Cox Men’s Wear. “I can’t give those prices.” Lower U.S. wages, combined with import duties ramp up the cost of goods in Canada. “It’s very short-term thinking on some people’s parts to run across the border” for a few hours to pick up items, he said. Most distressing to Billinger are stories he’s heard of many returning Canadians not being asked to pay the HST even when they declare their purchases, which equates to lost tax dollars. Billinger says he’s
spoken to managers from several different industries and they’re all suffering. Bank of Montreal economist Douglas Porter warned in a report issued this month the drain of Canadian shoppers heading south is weighing heavily on retail sales here. He said official estimates that cross-border shopping accounts for less than two per cent of consumer spending likely “vastly understate” the size of the problem. Porter suggested crossborder spending may actually account for eight to 10 per cent of goods that can flow across the border, since half of all consumer spending goes to rent and other captive services. Porter compared various goods and found they currently cost 14 per cent more on average here than in the U.S., before taxes and adjusted for exchange. That’s down from a 20 per cent differential a year ago, due to a slightly softer Canadian dollar. For some products Porter surveyed there’s virtually no price difference, while others can cost more than 30 per cent extra on this side of the border. - with files from Jeff Nagel
A high streamflow advisory for the Lower Fraser River was lifted Monday, though water levels along the river remain seasonally high. Snow melt in the mountains and Fraser River headwaters along with persistent heavy rains had pushed the water level to 5.29 metres at the Mission gauge on Monday. That measurement had dropped to 5.27 metres by Wednesday morning, according to Mission’s emergency preparedness coordinator Ian Fitzpatrick. When water levels reach six metres the district’s emergency preparedness plan kicks in, which includes daily dike patrols and consultation with riverside businesses, he said. “We haven’t had a significant heat spell. We’ve had heavy rain at times and that’s what’s really causing the river to go up and down like it is right now.” Fitzpatrick stressed there isn’t reason to be concerned, especially since Mission gets about a four-day advanced warning of conditions by being downstream. Fitzpatrick was expected to take a teleconference call with the province Wednesday after The Record’s press deadline.
Picking away Blues legend Jim Byrnes was at the Historic Dewdney Pub last Sunday afternoon, playing to a packed crowd. BOB FRIESEN PHOTO
The Fraser River was sitting at 5.27 metres Wednesday.
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