Alaskan truck toll could be 'last nail in the coffin' of Fort Nelson, B.C., mayor warns
B.C.'s northernmost municipality is highly reliant on travelers taking the Alaska Highway on roadtrips
The mayor of B.C's northernmost municipality is warning that tolls on commercial trucks traveling through the province to Alaska could be "the last nail in the coffin" of an already-struggling local economy.
The ability to impose the fees is part of sweeping new legislation introduced last week by the B.C. government in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and talk of annexing Canada to make it the 51st state.
Premier David Eby says he doesn't have immediate plans to put tolls into place, but wants the option should there be a need to respond quickly to threats from the United States, should the need arise.
But even the possibility worries Rob Fraser, mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality — which includes Fort Nelson.
"Every single foreign dollar that comes in here is important to us," Fraser said. "Every flat tire, every sandwich, every cup of coffee."
"Any reductions [in traffic] would impact us significantly."
Highway built on American and Canadian co-operation
Fort Nelson is B.C.'s third-oldest non-Indigenous settlement and was once powered by forestry, and later, petroleum production. But declines in both industries have taken their toll and tourism is now viewed by many as a final lifeline.
It's located at Mile 300 (Kilometre 483) on the Alaska Highway, a travel route with its origin in Dawson Creek, B.C., that stretches more than 2,000 kilometres through Whitehorse and on to the Delta Junction, southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska.
The highway's very existence is a symbol of the strong ties between Canada and the United States: built by the U.S. Corps of Engineers during the Second World War and then turned over to the Canadian government, it's a popular tourist route among RVers and road trippers — a "bucket list item," Fraser says, for many Americans.
Flags from Canada and the United States fly side-by-side at stops all along the way, welcoming visitors to places like the Triple G Hideaway RV Park and Restaurant, which was just purchased by Bryan and Janis Stanley who moved to Fort Nelson from Saskatchewan to operate the campground.
Though snow is still thick on the ground, on March 14 they welcomed their first visitors: a family from Wasilla, Alaska who stopped in for the night on their way home from a trip to Utah's Salt Lake City.
"Americans tourists are a huge part of keeping this place going," said Bryan Stanley.
That sentiment was echoed by Murray Abs who runs the local Super 8 Motel and sits on the board for the chamber of commerce.
He says it's common to look out into his parking lot and see multiple American licence plates on vehicles passing through — something that could change should relations between Canada and the United States further deteriorate.
"It's a significant percentage traveling to Alaska and from Alaska," he said, including commercial traffic, tourists and U.S. military members on their way to a deployment further north.
The region has already taken some big blows: COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2020 led to an estimated 80 per cent decline in visitors. Wildfires that forced community-wide evacuations last year also hurt.
Combined with downturns in resource industries, the results are noticeable: Fort Nelson's official population dipped to about 2,600 in the 2021 census, a drop of approximately 25 per cent since 2011, with empty homes left behind. Even Fraser has been forced to relocate to Saskatchewan part-time for work.
That's why he's so worried about the province's Bill 7, the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act, which includes language that would allow the province to impose fees on foreign travel through B.C.
"Commercial trucks provide a base for service companies in our community. If they're not fixing flat tires and serving coffees and selling sandwiches in the winter time, we potentially lose those businesses... and they're not there for the bulk of the the traffic that goes through in the summer, all the tourists."
"So the premier is able to talk tough, but unfortunately, it's at our expense."
'We like Americans. They've just got a lousy president'
Fraser said he sent a letter to the government outlining his concerns two weeks ago, but hasn't heard back.
When asked about the potential fallout from tolls at a news event last week, Eby reiterated he would only put them in place should the situation call for it, outlining what he viewed as an existential threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
"We have to be honest with ourselves," he said. "Trump is threatening to use economic force to annex our country as the 51st state. He's threatening to come after our water. He's threatening to redraw our borders."
The history and relationship between B.C. and Alaska, he said, was a long one and he called on Alaskans to send the message directly to Trump that a trade war is "not worth it for anybody."
"We don't want to use this tool," he said of the tolls. "We like Alaskans, we think they're great. We like Americans, we think they're great. They've just got a lousy president."
The implementation of a toll system has not been made clear. Bill 7 is broad and fails to specify details, which has led to worry from its critics that non-commercial travel could also be a target, in possible violation of the international treaty governing the Alaska Highway.
The document states that Canada cannot apply any charges to U.S. travelers that aren't also in place for Canadian ones, though Eby has said if Trump doesn't respect international treaties, there is less reason for B.C. to adhere to those rules when trying to protect itself.
Also not clear is whether such tolls would have much impact on Alaska itself. The majority of goods shipped into the state arrive via boat, with less than five per cent coming by road.
According to B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation, approximately 10,000 trucks travel through the province to Alaska every year, a number it admits is "not large," with traffic split between the northwest Stewart-Cassiar route and the more established Alaska Highway.
But Fraser warned that in area already so economically depressed, even a small decline would make a big difference.
He also worried that if a toll was put in place even temporarily, transport companies would switch to sea and air delivery methods and not switch back again once they were lifted.
"Once the supply chain is broken... we may never get it back," he said, adding he does understand B.C. needs to stand up against trade action from the United States but he hopes it's not at the expense of Fort Nelson's ability to survive.
"We want to be part of team Canada," he said. "But we don't believe that any retaliatory measure should impact one more community than everybody else."
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With files from Hanna Petersen