Vaughn Palmer: Premier David Eby has already begun playing down threat that could cost B.C. billions
VICTORIA — Premier David Eby says his threat to slap a toll on Alaska-bound trucks passing through B.C. was mainly intended to get the attention of the state’s Republican politicians.
“It is not because we hate Alaskans,” the premier has said on more than one occasion since making the threat earlier this month. “It is because there’s a Republican governor and there’s a Republican Congresswoman and they have access to President Donald Trump, they have the ability to deliver the message for us. I need them to go to the president and say, what are you doing?”
Eby surely has got the attention of at least one Alaskan politician — though not in the way he imagined.
The proposed truck tolls were still making headlines when they drew a sharp response from Dan Sullivan, a Republican and one of Alaska’s two U.S. Senators.
“It is a bit of a dangerous game, right, for some of these Canadians to do that,” Sullivan warned during a recent interview with host Mike Porcaro on Anchorage radio station KENI. “You know, Canada, you don’t want to mess with Alaska. If you do, we’re going to work hard on having our cruise ships bypass your ports, and that’ll help our tourism industry tremendously, and it’ll really hurt their tourism.”
U.S. law requires that foreign-built cruise ships — which is pretty much all of them — cannot travel between American ports without an intervening stop in another country. For ships on the Alaska run, it means stopovers in Victoria, Nanaimo or other B.C. ports.
“If we can pass a law saying no, they don’t (need to stop), or get an executive order saying no, they don’t, that will take billions — and I’m talking billions — of dollars of tourism revenue from western Canadian provinces,” Sullivan told the radio audience.
The senator knows whereof he speaks. He was one of a trio of Alaskan members of the U.S. Congress who engineered just such an exemption four years ago. It happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to Alaska-bound cruise ships being blocked from stopovers in B.C. ports.
When Sullivan and his colleagues first voiced the threat, then Premier John Horgan mocked their chances of success.
“Anyone who has spent any time watching the U.S. Congress knows that the likelihood of success on any number of endeavours is remote in good times, much less in times of crisis,” Horgan declared. “I’m confident that this blip along the way is the result of frustration in Alaska.”
The Alaskans took Horgan’s bluster as a challenge. Led by Don Young, a 50-year veteran of the House of Representatives, they pushed the legislation through both houses of Congress in short order.
“Advice to John Horgan: Don’t underestimate Don Young and the Alaska delegation. Our bill — the blip as you say — is now headed to be signed into law,” said Young on May 22, 2021, rubbing it in.
Two days later, President Joe Biden signed the exemption into law.
The only consolation for B.C. was that the bypass was temporary. Though some Republicans wanted it permanent, the Democrats were not inclined to completely abandon a provision supported by unionized workers in the shipbuilding industry.
This time, the Alaskans may find a more receptive audience in a Republican president and a Republican-controlled Congress.
The B.C. premier acknowledged as much when asked Friday.
“It would be a big deal for us if the Alaskans retaliated and encouraged the president to have their cruise ships not stop and so on,” Eby conceded. “The consequences for Alaskans are a big deal. We would expect them to respond in kind.
“I understand that Alaskans might feel anxious about the idea of an additional charge on trucks going from Washington state to Alaska,” the premier continued. “I hope very much that the elected Republicans in Alaska are sending that message to the president because you can see very quickly how destructive a trade war is.
“We don’t want to use this tool. We like Alaskans. We think they’re great. We like Americans; we think they’re great. They’ve just got a lousy president.”
He was doing so well there — not calling Sullivan’s proposal a blip, not saying the chances of success were remote — until he got around to insulting his choice of presidents.
The premier also tried to play down the significance of Bill 7, the measure introduced into the legislature last week allowing B.C. to toll Alaska-bound trucks.
“The legislation doesn’t impose the charge,” Eby emphasized. “It gives us the ability to do it.”
A glimpse there of the premier’s emerging line of defence for Bill 7 and the power it gives the cabinet to overrule most laws, regulations and authorities.
At first Eby defended the bill as absolutely essential to meet the Trump tariffs. Now he discounts it as mere enabling legislation. The cabinet may never even make use of it. No story here.
Never mind that once the New Democrats use their majority to pass Bill 7 this spring, they can wield its sweeping powers as they see fit until the legislation expires two years from now.