B.C. residents spent an estimated $2.6 billion cross-border shopping in the U.S. last year, according to estimates from the Business Council of B.C.

And it says the higher-than-normal level of spending south of the border is contributing to the weakness of retail sales for businesses in B.C.

According to the study, the rise of cross-border shopping in recent years has been driven by three main factors – the strong Canadian dollar, recent increases in duty-free exemptions and the large gap between gas prices in Metro Vancouver and Washington State.

The business council estimates short-term spending by B.C. residents in the U.S. added up to as much as $1.6 billion last year, while that figure rises to between $2 and $2.6 billion if longer vacation-type trips are counted.

And those figures count only shopping for goods, fuel and groceries, they don’t include services, restaurant meals or entertainment, which the report says might add another $1 billion or more.
Same-day trips across the border by B.C. residents have soared 143 per cent from 2.3 million crossings in 2009 to 5.7 million last year.

“The increase in trips is plain to see,” the report said. “There are frequently long line ups at border crossings, gas stations in adjacent U.S. communities are busy, and parking lots at shopping centres are filled with B.C. licence plates.”

It also recounts calls in Bellingham for American-only shopping times when locals won’t have to jam into stores with hordes of bargain-hunting B.C. visitors.

Increases in B.C.’s carbon tax and TransLink’s fuel tax in the Metro region “have compounded earlier price discrepancies, creating powerful incentives for many British Columbians to fill their tanks south of the border.”

A 70-litre fill-up costs about $25 less south of the line.

Metro Vancouver natural gas customers will see their bills rise an average of $61 a year after the B.C. Utilities Commission approved FortisBC rate changes.

FortisBC said in a news release Friday that the BCUC approved a 94-cent-per-gigajoule increase to the commodity rate, the cost of the gas itself, as the price of natural gas has risen.

But the BCUC has also approved a 29- cent-per-gigajoule decrease in the delivery rate, thus sparing users the full brunt of the gas price increase.

“The combined rate change means an increase of $0.642 per GJ, or approximately $61 per year for an average residential customer in the Lower Mainland,” the release said.

Cynthia Des Brisay, vice-president of energy supply and resource development for FortisBC, said in the release: “Natural gas costs fluctuate depending on market conditions.

“Over the past year, North American market prices have recovered from the depressed levels seen in early 2012 due to increased demand, a colder winter and a slowdown in production growth. These higher costs are requiring us to raise commodity rates.

“At the same time, delivery costs for some customers will be decreasing following a recent review by the BCUC.”

Adrian Dix, leader of the B.C. New Democrats, announced the Official Opposition shadow cabinet, saying his team will hold Premier Clark and the B.C. Liberals to account for their promises and record.

“Premier Clark’s government was elected on the claims of a balanced budget, reduced debt, increased core services and increased jobs,” said Dix. “British Columbians expect the Liberals to live up to the commitments they made, and our caucus will do just that.

“Already, we have seen her government award hefty pay increases to political insiders while imposing wheelchair rental fees on vulnerable seniors. British Columbians will not tolerate a return to the say one thing, do another approach that has characterized Liberal rule.

“When the legislature sits again starting June 26, we expect the government to demonstrate how its budget is balanced and how it will avoid massive cuts to core services,” said Dix. “Our team of critics, including seven new MLAs, will be a strong voice to ensure the government is held accountable.”

The Supreme Court of Canada says an employer who wants to impose random alcohol testing on unionized workers in a dangerous work environment must show it is a reasonable move.

The court ruled that a mandatory random alcohol testing policy imposed by Irving Pulp and Paper at a Saint John, N.B., kraft mill in 2006 was unreasonable and was properly rejected by a labour arbitration board.

In a 6-3 decision on Friday, the justices sided with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which brought a grievance against the Irving policy.

A New Brunswick court overturned the arbitration board’s ruling against the company, but the Supreme Court restored it, saying the board was right to reject the tests because there was no evidence of an alcohol problem at the plant.

In 15 years before the policy was imposed, there were only eight instances in which a worker was found to be under the influence of alcohol and none involved an accident or injury.
In the 22 months the policy was in effect, no one tested positive.

The justices said the applicable standard for judging such matters is reasonableness.

“In the end, the expected safety gains to the employer in this case were found by the board to range ‘from uncertain … to minimal at best’ while the impact on employee privacy was found to be much more severe,” Justice Rosalie Abella wrote for the majority.

“Consequently, the board concluded that the employer had not demonstrated the requisite problems with dangerousness or increased safety concerns such as workplace alcohol use that would justify universal random testing.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday he is convinced the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons, a day after the United States claimed multiple attacks have killed as many as 150 people.

Washington says it has proof Assad’s forces used chemical weapons — including the nerve agent, sarin — against Syrian rebels.

Speaking in Paris alongside French President Francois Hollande, Harper said he accepts the U.S. claims.

“We share the view of our allies, I think, based on the evidence before us, that there have been uses of chemical weapons in Syria by the regime,” Harper said in Paris.

“And as you know, the position of Canada on the regime is clear: we want to see Assad depart power and we want to see a regime that is representative of the entire population of Syria, which the Assad regime in its present form can never be.”

The bloody civil war raging in Syria for two years — which has killed at least 93,000 people — will be at the top of the agenda at the coming meeting of the world’s eight wealthiest countries in Northern Ireland.

G8 member Russia, which has so far resisted calls to oust Assad, on Friday disputed the U.S. claim that Assad’s regime used chemical weapons against the rebels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the evidence Russia has seen “didn’t look convincing.”

Ushakov added they is no talk yet of Russia supplying the S-300 air-defence missile systems to the Assad regime in retaliation to the U.S. arming the rebels.

Harper said he still has reservations about providing weapons and ammunition to the Syrian rebels.