Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not said much recently, but the number of Canadians visiting his state has hit a post-pandemic low. The drop was 26 per cent. The Canadian travel boycott is hitting Florida where it hurts: in the pocketbook. 

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on November 17, 2025.

OTTAWA—Canadians are voting with their feet. And America is not on the ballot.

Ten months into the mandate of United States President Donald Trump, the number of Canadians who visit the U.S. has slumped dramatically.

Just last week, the United States Travel Association reported a 3.2 per cent decline in international tourism spending in their country, for a loss of $5.7-billion compared to the previous year.

Canadians account for approximately 30 per cent of all foreign travel to the U.S., but we are not the only country that is putting the brakes on American tourism.

Canadians have good reason to boycott. In the last 10 months, the American president has threatened our economy, insulted our prime minister, backtracked on trade agreements, and continuously repeated he wants to annex our country.

As for other foreign travellers, the crackdown on migrants carried out by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has sent a global message that people can be rounded up at will.

A Canadian died while in ICE custody recently. Unfortunately, his sad story reflects that of hundreds of others who have been arrested without due process and thrown into detention centres hundreds of kilometres from where they were located.

Canada and the U.S. used to be very proud that we shared the world’s longest open border, defended only by smiles and a few border crossings. Those smiles are gone.

Canadian snowbirds who still visit the U.S. now have to be fingerprinted and registered as aliens.

Likewise, the cost of visiting the U.S. has jumped dramatically for some other international visitors with the introduction of the new $250 “visa integrity fee,” making America one of the most expensive destinations in the world.

When Canadians originally threatened a boycott, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis treated it as a joke, saying that with 3.3 million Canucks visiting his state in 2024, it wasn’t much of a boycott.

During an address to lawmakers in Tallahassee, DeSantis joked that Canadians were all coming down “to get a glimpse of what a Stanley Cup winning hockey team actually looks like.”

But the joke is now on him.

For the first time this year, the U.S. is going to move from a surplus to a deficit when it comes to how much travel money is spent in the country.

The United States Travel Association is predicting a total travel deficit of nearly US$70 billion. Canadians represent almost one-third of the travellers to the U.S., so our boycott is definitely not worth laughing at.

The projected deficit is caused by a 3.2 per cent decline in international tourism spending in the country, a loss that the association attributes largely to the drop in Canadian visitor numbers.

In the latest data from October, the number of Canadians travelling to the states by air dropped 24 per cent, and by land it decreased 30 per cent.

A recent Angus Reid poll surveyed 1,607 Canadians. Some 70 per cent said they were not comfortable travelling to the U.S. Their primary explanations were to stand up for Canada, oppose America’s political climate, and avoid border security concerns.

I was invited a few months ago to participate in a bilateral trade panel at the University of Southern California.

When I declined, citing security reasons, the organizing committee said it was not surprised as other Canadians had bowed out for the same reason.

The refusal to travel to the U.S. has opened up opportunities elsewhere. Statistics Canada recently reported a seven per cent increase in travellers heading to Europe.

Just recently, KLM/Air France announced a 30 per cent hike in their bookings.

Meanwhile, American politicians are doing their best to encourage an end to the boycott.

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently participated in a “California loves Canada” promotional campaign designed to encourage Canadians to reconsider the boycott.

Several governors joined in a recent Canadian tourism trade mission. Some states are offering promotions and “Welcome Canada” rebates in an effort to bring Canadians back.

Meanwhile, American visits to Canada are rebounding. In October, there was a one per cent reduction from 2024 travel in the same time period.

Florida’s DeSantis has not said much recently, but in the second quarter of this year, the number of Canadians visiting his state hit a post-pandemic low. The drop was 26 per cent.

Miami-Dade County has reported that spending by Canadians fell almost 13 per cent.

The Canadian travel boycott is hitting Florida where it hurts: in the pocketbook.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

If this fight continues, the federal government may have to consider overriding Danielle Smith’s objections. The pain of tariffs needs to be shared across the country. If Ontario and Quebec are facing tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, every province has to do their part. 

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on March 17, 2025.

OTTAWA—The roller-coaster ride facing our country is unlikely to end soon.

U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on his false claims that Canada is responsible for the tariff wars engulfing both countries.

And he continues to repeat that Canada’s best economic path would be to simply join the United States. Trump has been publicly questioning the boundaries between the two countries, and the organizations that manage boundary issues and shared watersheds.

The International Boundary Commission has maintained the integrity of the border since a treaty signed in 1925. The current boundary was surveyed and demarcated in 1908. Since that time, there has been zero claim that the border designation is wrong.

But we are dealing with a president who thinks he can rename the Gulf of Mexico simply by executive order.

He can also decide that news organizations refusing to carry the Gulf of America geographic designation will no longer be part of the White House press pool.

Reuters and the Associated Press have both been kept out of White House briefings for not bowing to the president’s order.

The White House Correspondence Association used to be responsible for managing the media membership and presidential pool access. It has criticized the change in policy, but Trump has said he wants new media included.

The president has also decided to further snuff out free speech by authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport anyone in the country on a temporary permit who participates in legal demonstrations.

So much for America’s First Amendment guaranteeing free speech.

Trump’s disrespect for Canada continues apace, even though the vast majority of Canadians have made it very clear that they are not interested in becoming the 51st state.

The only organized group that seems lukewarm to the fight for Canada is the truckers’ Ottawa occupation group.

Leader Tamara Lich—still awaiting the verdict in her trial for mischief, intimidation and counselling people to break the law—went on social media to complain about the slogan “Elbows Up,” calling it “the stupidest slogan I ever heard of.”

Mike Myers didn’t agree with her. In his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live, the Canadian comedian launched the “elbows up” movement after playing Elon Musk on the show. At the very end of the episode, Myers opened his vest, showing his ‘Canada Is Not For Sale’ T-shirt, and mouthed the words “elbows up” message while crooking his left elbow up. Every Canadian knew exactly what he meant. #ElbowsUp became a rallying cry that Liberal Leader Mark Carney referenced in his victory speech at the party convention last weekend, as did outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Some of the Liberal government’s more vocal opponents don’t like the unity message. It will be interesting to see how the leader of the official opposition manages this national consensus.

Pierre Poilievre has expended so much political energy to convince people that Canada is broken that it is tough for him to embrace a national, united fight for the country.

His core support draws from anti-vax truckers and if he appears to be too pro-Canada, that could cost him dearly. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has made it clear she will risk nothing in her tariff fight.

While most other premiers appear focused on this existential fight of our lives, Smith heads off to Florida March 27 to headline a conservative event with Ben Shapiro, a strong supporter of the plan to overrun our nation.

“When we take over Canada, you will be expelled to Panama to work the canal,” he wrote in a social post to prime minister Justin Trudeau in January.

Alberta New Democratic Party Leader Naheed Nenshi called Smith’s participation in the US$1,500 ticketed event, “Despicable. These are not the kind of people that Albertans want her associating with,” Nenshi told reporters.

Smith defended her participation, saying she will be influencing millions of followers on Shapiro’s social media account.

The premier has also been on Breitbart, saying she is getting the message out, but unlike Ontario Premier Doug Ford, her main strategy appears to be appeasement.

Smith repeatedly states that Alberta will not retaliate with oil and gas tariffs, even though the brief threat of electricity tariffication got Trump’s attention.

If this fight continues, the federal government may have to consider overriding her objections. The pain of tariffs needs to be shared across the country. If Ontario and Quebec are facing tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, every province has to do their part.

A fuel tariff would be immediate cause a hike in gasoline prices south of the border. Gas-guzzling pro-Trump truckers would not be amused.

Canada needs all elbows up!

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.