Political 'chaos' keeping some on P.E.I. from heading south of the border this spring
'It's made me feel more patriotic about staying in Canada,' says Jesse Strang
March break is right around the corner, but the state of Canada-U.S. relations as of late has some Prince Edward Islanders rethinking their travel plans.
A trade war is escalating between the two countries, prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump's ever-evolving threats to place punishing tariffs on goods the United States imports from this country.
Couple that with Trump's musings about annexing Canada and making it the 51st state, and it's been a recipe for anti-American sentiment and a growing movement to spend money locally.
"[I] have no intention of going to the U.S. because of the present climate," Islander Jesse Strang said when CBC News sent a crew out to the streets of Charlottetown to ask about travel plans.
"It's made me feel more patriotic about staying in Canada."
He's not the only one. Numbers released by Statistics Canada this week showed that in the month of February, the number of Canadians travelling to the U.S. by car dropped 23 per cent compared to the same month last year.
The decline in air travel was only about two per cent, but travel agents said that's not a surprise because flights, vacation packages and cruises are often booked and paid for months or even years in advance.
Unfortunately, patriotism is not one of the reasons you can cancel without having a penalty.— Frances Gertsch
"Travellers are looking at the ownership of the companies they're booking through," said Frances Gertsch, an agent with Stewart Travel Group. "I'm definitely seeing people being proud of working with Canadian companies all the time, but never an anti-American sentiment.
"That's something I hadn't heard," she said — until this winter.
The White House said Tuesday that Trump will go ahead with a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum just after midnight, capping off yet another chaotic day of trade threats and 51st state taunts.
These tariffs are separate from the others Trump levied on Canada last week — and later partially dialled back — to supposedly pressure the country to do more at the border on drugs and migrants.
Some Islanders said those tactics, along with the relatively weak Canadian dollar, motivated them to cancel any U.S. travel plans.
But others had more personal reasons.
Fernanda Ruiz is from Mexico and lives in Charlottetown. She had a trip booked to Orlando this year, but cancelled her plans because of Trump's treatment of both the countries she considers home.
"Especially the way he is with my country… I would rather stay here and travel to other parts [of Canada] or go to Mexico," she said.
"I feel it's better to help the countries that are actually with us."
Shawn Carnes is an American citizen who came to P.E.I. a few years ago to work. He made a conscious decision to stay and try to get his permanent residency because of the political climate in the U.S.
"I want to stay here. This is where I work, this is where we're eventually going to get permanent residency," he said.
"So yeah, absolutely the chaos in the United States is making me want to stay here."
For those Islanders looking to cancel already-made travel plans south of the border, Gertsch cautions that they should check the terms and conditions of their bookings to avoid losing money.
"It's really important when you book travel that you know what you're getting into, and when you can cancel and when you can't," she said.
"Unfortunately, patriotism is not one of the reasons you can cancel without having a penalty."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Nicola MacLeod