While a good portion of Canadians live within a couple of hours’ drive of the U.S. border, it is very different than living directly across from our American counterparts, according to Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati.
“We all grew up here. We lived our lives here. We’ve got family and friends on both sides,” he told Global News on Monday.
“Going across the border is like going across town anywhere else in the country. So we don’t even see the border when you live here.”
That familial relationship may have become fractured over the weekend when Donald Trump announced that a round of tariffs were coming for Canadians, a move which was postponed for a month on Monday.
“The majority of us are Bills fans. And, you know, we go to Buffalo, we fly out of the Buffalo airport. It’s just a way of life here,” Diodati said. “In the same way a lot of Americans do the same things here in Canada. They like coming to Costco and they like coming to visit the casino and etc.
“So it was like a punch in the gut.”
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Diodati said he was out and about in the community over the weekend and his constituents were upset by the news. One resident told the Niagara Falls mayor that they no longer felt welcome to cross over into the U.S.
“One lady at the grocery store said, ‘You know, I don’t know if I want to cross over the river’,” he said. “She said, ‘I’m not sure I feel welcome right now.’”
There is a similar feeling of shock and resentment in other border communities such as Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., which shares a border with Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
“There is a real sense of betrayal across Canada, and in Sault, Ont., that feeling is heightened due to our close relationship with Sault, Michigan,” Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said Monday.
“The Twin Saults share a name, a river, a history of friendship and cooperation and a bridge that links us together. Every day, thousands of Canadians and Americans cross that bridge for work, shopping or even just to play hockey.
“If these tariffs are implemented, we will see a significant decline in the number of Canadians crossing into Michigan to spend money.”
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He noted that the Canadian Sault is the larger of the two cities and the effects of slower border traffic would likely have more of an impact on his American neighbours.
Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia., Ont, also noted that the trade barriers would have more of an impact on the daily lives of constituents in border towns than other places.
“The real impact in border communities will be the day-to-day trade, jobs and relationships,” he said in an email Monday, noting that it could hurt the tourism industry in both directions. “You can’t poke a country in the eye without consequences.”
No one needs to tell Diodata about the effects it could have on the tourism industry as Niagara Falls is built largely on tourism.
The Niagara Falls mayor noted that Americans account for 25 per cent of visitors to his community but more importantly, they account for 50 per cent of the revenue in a community which sees 40,000 people employed in the tourism industry.
If Trump does go ahead with the tariffs down the road, it will be interesting to see how the Americans will react when they feel the effects of Canadian countermeasures.
“If Americans don’t feel welcome, they won’t come,” Diodata said.
“So it’s interesting to see what will have a bigger pull on them there. The idea that their dollar can go further and they can get 30 per cent plus off of a vacation just by coming to Canada or are they going to get that nationalism feeling and say, no, we’ll just stay home.”
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Fort Erie, which lies right next to Niagara Falls, also has a border crossing between the two countries. The town’s mayor, Wayne Redekop, says that as Canadians look to ‘buy Canadian’, Americans my also consider similar measures.
“Once Americans begin to feel the effect of tariffs imposed by Canada, they may decide to avoid Canada and our products,” he said in an email.
“The significant exchange rate between our currencies may still encourage Americans to continue to come to Fort Erie.”
But the Niagara Region which includes both communities has other things at stake as well aside from the tourist industry.
“Fort Erie has 53 businesses that export product to the US, some rather large and some small. Niagara has over 600,” he wrote in an email.
“Many of the products exported by Fort Erie businesses are critically important for the customers and some are competing successfully with American manufacturers in the same fields.
“The tariffs are large enough that they cannot be absorbed by the exporter or the importer, so will have to be passed on to US and Canadian customers or, alternatively, sales will be lost.”
Up in Sault Ste. Marie, the largest employer is Algoma Steel, which sends most of its product to the U.S.
“Beyond the steel plant itself, a network of local businesses – including suppliers, contractors, transportation companies and service providers – rely on Algoma Steel’s operations,” Shoemaker explained.
“A downturn in steel production would ripple across these industries, leading to financial hardship for families throughout our community.”
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At the end of the day, it will be interesting to see if there are lasting effects of a tariff war, or if it will be quickly forgotten between those on both sides of the border.
“We’re making sure we’re choosing our world words carefully, because when this is over and at some point, this will be over and this too, shall pass, we’re going to be neighborus again, and we’re probably still going to be each other’s number one trading partners,” Diodati said.
“And we want to make sure that we carry on that tradition of being great partners, great neighbors and allies.”
