Should Canadians be tolled for crossing into the US?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Cross-border shopping could be discouraged by charging a toll on travellers, according to a UBC business professor.

“I would consider tolling crossers the same way we have put a toll on other expensive infrastructure such as the Port Mann Bridge,” says Keith Head. “The result could be less traffic at the border, which would lead to less air pollution and lower CO2 emissions.”

The idea has been shot down before.

Head says “a more radical proposal would be to follow Europe” and do away with border checkpoints.

As for this summer, he expects cross-border day trips to be down about 10 per cent from when the dollar was worth more than the US currency, based on a drop of one to two per cent in travel for each one-cent drop in the loonie.

“Studies show that the people who cross tend to live very close to the border relative to the rest of the population,” adds Head. “Not surprisingly, other studies show that negative retail effects are also mainly experienced close to the border. For most Canadians, cross-border shopping is a pretty rare event without major economic consequences.”

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