On Friday, a group of mayors of Canadian border cities launched a plea to obtain aid at the higher levels of the government while the companies of their communities suffer from the effects of the pricing threats of US President Donald Trump and anti-Canadian rhetoric.
“We need the federal government to understand and turn fully in different sectors to help them through the prices that will come,” said the mayor of Sarnia, Mike Bradley, at a press conference organized by the Frontier Duty Free Association.
“We feel the pain and we are on the front line,” said Bradley about his city, which shares a border with Michigan. “It is just the reality of being a border city. There is a lot of joys to be a border city. But there is also a lot of pain on occasion when problems out of our control occur.”
In recent months, Trump has issued prices threats while commenting on Canada becoming America 51st State and suggesting that our Prime Minister would become governor. This caused a wave of Canadian nationalism with calls for people to buy local purchases and cancel visits and holidays through the border.
The group, which included mayors from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, said that this has caused a decrease in the number of people who are heading in their communities. The mayors say that this has affected the tourism industry, including restaurants and rights in rights.
“Anything that hinders the flow of people has an impact on franchise rights stores on both sides of the border,” said Fort Erie Wayne Redekop. “This affects restaurants, hotel industry, tourism. Niagara Falls, Ontario, has about three to four million Americans to come each year, and it is in danger.
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“There will be economic impacts there and we will feel the same thing here, because people on the other side of the border will also begin to lose their jobs.”
Many mayors have noted that they regularly saw their American cousins and that despite the bitter relations between federal governments, things are more cordial at the local level.
“It becomes more and more difficult as this tariff war continues, or its uncertainty continues, because personal feelings are starting to take over and this hinders the flow of people,” said Redekop.
There are also similar feelings to the east, because things remain in neighborhood between the inhabitants of St. Stephen, NB, and those who live on the other side of the border in Calais, me.
“We do not see any hostility, but there is a fear,” proposed the mayor of St. Stephen Allan Maceachern.
He said that he regularly speaks to the mayor of Calais, who finds himself regularly to eat in his favorite restaurant.
“She is worried about her license plate, so that fear is there,” said Maceachern.
But the mayor of New Brunswick noted that the two parties were cordial.
“There is no hostility. Love is still there,” he said. “They are mainly confused citizens who try to overcome this new problem with which we are dealing.”
Redekop also noted that there was confusion on both sides of the border about what Trump works with his pricing threats.
“You must remember that there are many, many Americans who are also disconcerted by what comes out of Washington as Canadians,” he said. “And they are not satisfied with it because the same impacts we feel are felt by companies and people on the other side of the river or the border.”
The mayors hope that the higher levels of the government will be there to support the stores along the border that always seek to recover travel restrictions during the cocvid era.
“We know that they have reserved money at the provincial levels, federal levels for help, for companies that will be affected by the prices and everything we live, so I hope they will act quickly and intelligently,” said Woodstock, the mayor of NB, Trina Jones.
While many have called the federal government for help, Gary Zalepa, who is mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, thinks that there are other ways to help you.
“The federal and provincial governments must immediately reduce interpromecting commercial barriers, in particular in the agricultural sector, on agricultural products,” he said.
“Second, we recommend targeted financial assistance for affected companies that deal with the increase in input costs due to prices. We need incentives for companies to start exploring non -American supply chains for essential elements of inputs, such as cans and bottles and packaging containers. ”
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