CANADA. The Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA) is calling on the Canadian government to make regulatory changes that would eliminate the tax disadvantage local duty-free stores face against their US competitors.
The move comes amid sustained pressure on border communities and businesses, as cross-border trade and travel remain disrupted.
Return trips from the USA dropped -22% year-on-year in January, marking a 13th consecutive month of decline, according to Statistics Canada.
The effects are being felt most strongly by border community businesses, including land border duty-free stores that depend entirely on cross-border travel flows.
FDFA pointed to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s statement that small businesses would not be left behind during this period of disruption.
However, the association highlighted the ongoing challenges faced by Canadian land border duty-free stores, all independently owned small businesses. It added that they remain at a tax disadvantage compared with their only direct competitor, the USA, and are treated differently from other Canadian export industries.
Frontier Duty Free Association Executive Director Barbara Barrett said: “Land border duty-free stores have given the Department of Finance small regulatory changes that would allow the stores to survive. We are simply asking for action and for fairness with our only competitor, the United States.”
FDFA urged a level playing field to ensure that an industry with a 40-year history of supporting Canada’s economy and tourism can compete fairly and continue its important role in supporting small border communities across the country. ✈
