Holt and New England governors at odds over tourism, talent recruitment at Boston meeting
N.B. premier stays the course on tourism boycott of U.S.
A meeting of northeastern U.S. governors and eastern Canadian premiers on Monday was mostly friendly as they spoke of developing closer ties during a Donald Trump-fuelled trade war.
But despite the amicable talk of cross-border connections, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt did not waver as her American colleagues spoke of how a drop in Canadian tourism numbers was hurting their economies.
"We don't like to hear that," Holt said at a news conference in Boston after the premiers and governors met. "But what we want to say to that is, 'You've got to make noise, you've got to tell your leader that this is hurting the American economy, this is hurting jobs in the U.S. But I can't tell Canadians to come visit the U.S. right now.'
"I'm going to tell them to go visit my neighbours in Nova Scotia, I'm going to tell them to spend some time at home because the relationship has been challenged by leadership. And we need to get back to normal. That's what we all want."
Many Canadians, including New Brunswickers, have been cancelling plans to visit the U.S. since the Republican U.S. president announced his tariff plans, launching a trade war, and said he thought Canada should be the 51st state.
Data shows that border crossings from New Brunswick to Maine are down nearly 40 per cent in recent months.
Most of Holt's comments throughout the news conference were in reference to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
"It's not the tariffs that are affecting them so much as the hurt pride in Canadian citizenry, and boy, I understand that," Mills told reporters after saying that tourism numbers were down about 26 per cent in Maine so far this year.
She pointed to the welcome signs she had installed at border crossing from Canada but added that she's "only one governor."
Mills said that she understands Trump's rhetoric has hurt Canadians, but that Maine still wants Canadians to visit. She is going on a road trip herself to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia next week.
"Maine is almost hugged by Canada, by New Brunswick and Quebec, and we value that relationship more than anything," Mills said.
Mills also spoke at length several times about intertwined cross-border families, ties to Canada through French Canadian heritage, and industry, naming how many Irving gas stations are in Maine and referring to J.D. Irving Ltd.'s prominence in the forestry industry there.
"Those things don't just end overnight because of some dangerous rhetoric coming from Washington," Mills said.
Healey echoed her fellow Democrat, saying all northeastern states had seen tourism numbers down.
"We have seen impacts that you can't quite put a price on, but are real," Healey said.
Another sticking point was with over Canadian recruitment from the U.S. for research and development as Trump's government slashes research funding.
Healey had earlier highlighted the extensive work being done in her state in medical research, health care, and biotech, adding that Massachusetts universities received about 2,400 international students from Canada annually.
But Holt said that she wouldn't pretend that Canadians don't see this as an opportunity to attract "some of the brightest and best from here who are now seeing funding cut and challenges put in place."
"So maybe we'll borrow some of the folks, and be able to give them back and be able to build the kind of inter-connected partnerships between our research organizations that will stand through the test of time." Her remarks garnered awkward laughter from Mills and Healey.
Healey quickly followed that she "would like to not necessarily have anyone leave, although New Brunswick is a wonderful place to study and research, but if we can have more collaborations, that's what we want to do."
Healey, Mills and Holt all spoke of continuing discussions to further trade and connections between their regions, but did not offer specifics beyond mentioning how the two countries are currently connected through energy and trade.
"The northeast is open for business, is open for trade," Healey said. "We value and respect our Canadian neighbours and their businesses," Healey said.
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