A passenger train running between Portland, Ore., and Vancouver could be cancelled because the Canadian government wants $550,000 a year for extra customs services.
Paula Hammond, transportation secretary for Washington state, said Ottawa wants her department to pay the fee to cover additional border staffing for the evening Amtrak Cascades train.
That doesn't make sense, she said, because that second daily train has brought nearly $12 million in economic benefits to British Columbia in the year it's been operating.
The second train arrives in Vancouver at 10:50 p.m.
"We proved that the ridership demand was there, during the Olympics and after," Hammond said in a news release.
"We have no money to cover this added cost and we will not ask Washington travellers to pay more for their tickets, when customers travelling into Washington don't have to pay a U.S. customs fee."
Similar fees are not levied at road crossings.
B.C. Transportation Minister Shirley Bond said the second train has been an economic success and she and her Washington counterpart will continue to try to convince the Canada Border Services Agency to drop the fee.
"We're not going to write this train off," she said.
Amtrak added the second train before the 2010 Winter Olympics, but only after the CBSA waived the $1,500 daily fee it was originally demanding to cover the costs of processing passengers.
The government announced it would not collect the fee from August 2009 until the end of March 2010 as part of a pilot program.
The second train is estimated to add as much as $14 million a year to B.C.'s economy and British Columbia spent $2 million to upgrade infrastructure to accommodate the train, Bond said.
"We are disappointed that despite increasing ridership and what we consider to be a significant success, that once again, we're discussing the additional costs," she said.
A CBSA spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment.
Hammond's news release said Canada decided the additional fee is necessary because of fiscal concerns. Ottawa did so after reviewing the pilot program over the past year and considering the staffing costs for the late evening arrival of the second Amtrak Cascades train.
"I am extremely disappointed that Canada has taken this counterproductive and harmful action against Washington state passengers," said Wash. Sen. Patty Murray.
"This new fee will hurt our state and it will reduce cross-border economic activity that helps both countries. I will be monitoring this situation closely and I urge Canada to reconsider this decision."
The news had Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh fuming and demanding that the federal government drop the fee.
"The United States sees no need to collect similar fees for southbound passengers, so the Harper government's decision to impose these charges demonstrates an obvious short-sightedness when it comes to promoting economic recovery in Vancouver and defending tourism jobs," he said in a release.
"If we want to put our economy back on track, the Harper government needs to reverse its decision and allow the second Amtrak to continue."
Amtrak runs the trains in partnership with Washington and Oregon.
