Mayors in border communities call on Ottawa to boost support for duty-free shops

Globe and Mail

03-06-2025

A group representing Canadian land border duty-free stores has released an open letter signed by 15 mayors from border communities, calling on Ottawa to provide more support for the shops.
The strain on the Canada-U.S. relationship has led to a drop in border traffic, and the stores are struggling to stay afloat as a result, said Barbara Barrett, executive director of the Frontier Duty Free Association. The shops had previously faced down the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
Drew Dilkens, the mayor of Windsor, Ont., said that duty-free shops in his region are seeing a 40-per-cent drop in sales. The letter also says that many stores are reporting revenue losses of 60 per cent to 80 per cent in just the past few weeks.
The letter urges the federal government to provide immediate liquidity for the hardest-hit stores; to issue a ministerial directive that would reaffirm the export status and remove regulatory uncertainty; and to align excise tax policy with the export status so stores can fairly compete with their U.S. counterparts.
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Ms. Barrett said they would need to figure out the specific details of the liquidity ask, but she pointed out that the industry is small and 'we don't need much.'
Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia, Ont., said 3,000 jobs at independently owned duty-free stores across Canada are at stake.
'The message is very, very simple – this is a crisis,' he said. 'This is not a fat cat industry. The people we've spoken to who have these particular operations across this country are ordinary working people who live in their community, employ people in their community, and give back to their community.'
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.