LILLEY: In Buffalo, Americans wonder where their Canadian friends have gone

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You’ll still see Tim Hortons locations sitting on a street corner and Labatt Blue is still one of the most popular beers in this part of New York. One thing you see less of driving across Western New York, in Niagara Falls and Buffalo, is Ontario licence plates.

Canadians aren’t coming the way they used to and the locals are noticing.

“It’s not like it used to be,” said Nicole as she slung coffee, bacon and eggs at Mom’s Diner on Military Rd. in Niagara Falls.

“We used to get a tonne, we don’t anymore.”

Down the street at Walmart, the back-to-school t-shirts start at $3.98, jeans at $12.98 and school supplies are cheap and plentul but parents aren’t showing up like they used to. Even across the parking lot where Sam’s Club is selling gas for C1.04 per litre, there was one Ontario plate in the long line for gas.

At the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls, a mall built to effectively draw Canadians in with cheap prices –and where the Canadian flag still proudly flies — the familiar blue and white Ontario plate is no longer the near dominant sight it once was. Now, not all of this is due to Trump and tariffs, patterns have changed, and our dollar is weaker than it used to be.

Four years ago, the Loonie traded at about 83 cents to the American dollar and between 2008 and 2011 was often at par or slightly higher than the greenback. On Wednesday, a Canadian dollar was worth 72 cents of American currency.

Still, locals say things have shifted.

At the Trader Joe’s in Amherst, there are a few Canadian plates. As an American retailer that has yet to move into the Canadian market, Trader Joe’s has a small but devoted cult following in Canada.

“You Canadians love our store,” said the cashier as I was checking out. “But we don’t see as many of you as we used to.”

Sitting chatting over wings and a glass of Blue at the Anchor Bar around the corner, the bartender said that there has been a real drop over the past six months or so.

“It’s not like it used to be,” Jackie said.

She’s hopeful that with minor hockey tournaments starting up soon, plus NHL games from the Buffalo Sabres and NFL games with the Bills, things could pick up soon. Southern Ontario is home to a devoted Bills followers who love to cross over for home games in the fall and early winter months.

Driving down the QEW to the border, a large white SUV cruised ahead of me with Bills decals and Ontario plate showing he was a true “Bill-iever” one of the nicknames Bills fans have given themselves.

Beyond the anecdotal, there are the stats.

So far this year, the Buffalo-Niagara region has seen 400,000 fewer Canadian visitors, a 15% drop year over year. According to Visit Buffalo Niagara visits have been down every month this year compared to 2024 with April and May each showing about a 21% decline.

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This past July, tourism officials were able to increase the number of visitors compared to June, but it was still lower than July 2024.

At a news conference earlier this month, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul joined local officials in declaring that President Donald Trump’s comments against Canada — calling us the 51st state — and the imposition of tariffs was having a big impact on local tourism.

“There are real consequences on our towns and cities, and our people, but also the tourism industry is taking a hit,” Hochul said.

“Our cultural and sporting events, the downtown areas that people have visited for so long with ease coming over from Canada. Guess what, my friends? They don’t want to come anymore because they’ve been insulted, disrespected by the President of the United States.”

She noted the Explore and More Children’s Museum in downtown Buffalo used to see 1,400 Canadian visitors a month, now they see 40.

Talking to folks in the area, some understand why Canadians feel slighted, others are puzzled. They see us as good friends and neighbours, often family because when you live this close together for so long, it’s unlikely that you don’t have people marrying across the border.

While Buffalo itself didn’t vote for Trump, the counties around the city did, but not to pick a fight with Canada. Instead, they liked his promise of bringing back manufacturing jobs that used to provide the backbone of the local economy.

Now these folks who still view us with fondness and consider us friends wonder when or if we are ever coming back.