British Columbia’s premier is behind a boycott urging Canadians to avoid spending money on travel to the U.S. or on American products in response to a tariff threat while Alberta’s political leader remains stateside.
B.C. Premier David Eby suggested Wednesday Canadians should re-think non-essential U.S. travel and buying goods from south of the border.
“When you’re planning your March break vacations, when you’re planning your summer vacations, if the tariff threat is realized, the deliberate economic attack on families in our province, in our country, by the president of the United States, we really should think carefully about spending our money in that country,” said Eby, adding it felt “strange to say.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who is in Washington, D.C., following U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, declined to comment on the issue, instead pointing to previous statements pushing for diplomacy.
Don’t expect a statement or stance backing Eby’s proposal from Smith, however, says a Calgary-based political scientist.
Mount Royal University’s Duane Bratt told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday those sorts of words are “not going to come out of her mouth.”
Smith, who recently met U.S. President Donald Trump at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida, refused to sign a joint statement last week with other Canadian premiers to stand united in response to American tariff threats.
She was the only premier not to sign. Smith instead pushed back and called for co-operation over retaliation.
Bratt said Smith is choosing to not say anything negative about Trump and the tariffs threat not only because “she is concerned about the economic damage that a trade war could do” to Alberta, but also because she is aligned with Trump “on a lot of issues.”
“She wanted Trump to become President of the United States,” Bratt said.
“They agree on gun rights. They agree that climate change is a hoax. They agree that COVID was a hoax and that vaccines kill people. They agree on punching down on transgender people. So there is an alignment there.
“And while a vast majority of Albertans do not want to join the United States and are critical of Trump, the subset that supports Trump happens to be within the United Conservative Party.”
The idea to avoid travel to the U.S. is a move Edmonton-based travel agent Hidar Elmais says some of his clients have been considering, both in response to tariffs and because of the high cost to Canadians visiting America.
“I feel like (the tariffs threat response) is more obviously political, but it’s more a patriotic thing for us Canadians to realize that maybe we shouldn’t be sending our money (to the U.S.) when there’s so much political tension right now going on,” Elmais, of Travel Gurus, told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.
“A big concern with all Canadians this year has been the value of our dollar versus the American dollar. Travelling to the U.S. right now, spending money down there, has never been more expensive. Our dollar just isn’t worth as much as it used to be.”
Emais says travelling to a warmer climate – common this time of year for some Canadians – is more affordable to other places such as Mexico and Colombia, and southeast Asia destinations such as Thailand and Bali.
Smith, who has also been abroad on vacation in Panama recently, is expected to return to Alberta on Thursday.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Chelan Skulski
