Amid tariff and trade war talk, small-town B.C. mayors try to keep it friendly at the border

Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff likens the situation facing the scenic B.C. community just a few kilometres from the U.S. border to that of her own family.

She said she's been asked recently how she deals with her Canadian daughter being married to an American, given the current tensions between the two nations, fuelled by U.S. tariff threats and talk of annexation.

"Well, of course, I'm going to go down and see my grandchildren. Why wouldn't I?" said McKortoff.

She said that her south Okanagan city of about 5,500 had little interest in worsening tensions with the United States, given that they "have been our best neighbours for hundreds of years," with a big portion of the city economy relying on U.S. tourists visiting nearby wineries and farmers markets in the summer.

Bigger municipalities in B.C. have been talking of boycotts and reciprocal action against the threat of American tariffs on Canadian exports, with Vancouver's council voting to direct procurement contracts to Canadian businesses instead of American ones and suburban New Westminster asking staff to halt non-essential work trips to the United States. 

But McKortoff and mayors of some other small border communities say they can't afford to antagonize American customers and friends or have no interest in doing so.

"We need to be open to any kind of option that will allow us to do business and to make sure that we understand what the concerns are on both sides … and see how we can best deal with the situation because it changes often," she said.

Tom Morphet, mayor of Haines Borough, Alaska, recently wrote to Diane Strand, mayor of nearby Haines Junction, Yukon, to reaffirm a friendship the communities have shared for years.

"As northerners, we sometimes have as much in common with our Canadian neighbours as we do with our own countrymen in the southern latitudes," he wrote this month.

Morphet said in an interview that his love for Canada began 20 years ago when his truck got stuck in a mountain pass during a blizzard. It was a Canadian who pulled his vehicle out, then let him follow his tail lights for 240 kilometres.

"We wrote the letter to reinforce this great relationship we've always had here close to the border," said Morphet, adding that many residents "were born in Canada and have dual citizenship, and we have our First Nations who have always travelled freely in this part of the world."

Strand said the "border doesn't mean that much" to either community. 

Residents of both travel back and forth, especially during harvesting season. Alaskans crossed into Canada for moose hunting while Yukoners travelled to Alaska for eulachon fishing. 

'Shooting ourselves in the foot'

In Rossland, B.C., Mayor Andy Morel, said the "beautiful little mountain community" in the Kootenays needed to walk a "fine line" in not upsetting their U.S. neighbours, who are a big part of the local economy.

He said 60 to 75 per cent of the city's economy was driven by American tourists, with the city well known for its skiing and mountain biking culture.

"We do rely on U.S. visitors strongly, and we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot … if we started to boycott and to bad mouth our American tourists and friends on the other side of the border," said Morel. 

About 130 kilometres to the east, the town of Creston, B.C., is just across the border from deep-red Idaho, and the town of Bonners Ferry, which greets visitors with a sign saying: "Welcome to Trump country. Love God, guns, family, freedom and your neighbor."

Creston Mayor Arnold DeBoon said seeing the sign made him "uncomfortable … in Canada, we don't have that strong connection to guns, and we don't want that in Canada."

He said the cross-border sentiment had "cooled off" due to the recent tensions over Trump's proposed tariffs. But he hoped to be able to maintain a "friendly relationship."

"I don't think we want to be impolite or destroy a relationship that's out there," said DeBoon.