U.S. anglers, hunters wonder whether they are still welcome
'We had our best sales month in January and in March, ever, and we had a pretty good month in February, too; things were looking really good,' co-owner Pit Turenne said, referring to bookings for the upcoming fishing season.
'Since the tariffs came in April, it's been pretty quiet.'
While U.S. President Donald Trump's headline-grabbing comments about Canada becoming the 51st state didn't seem to deter American travellers, economic forces appear to be having a more profound impact.
'Travel spending and those luxury expenses are the first things to get cut,' Turenne said, adding some Americans have been calling and emailing to see whether they'll be welcome.
'We've had a lot of calls from our guests that come up here apologizing and saying, 'We still like you, do you still like us? Can we still come?' Tongue-in-cheek stuff like that,' he said.
In some cases, customers have booked, expressing a desire to get away from the 'circus' at home for a few weeks this summer.
'There's also this sort of escapist tourism from some of these groups just hoping to get out of there,' he said. 'It's interesting. It's not a normal booking cycle, I guess.'
While fishing season is near, the province's hunting outfitters are early in their off-season and haven't felt the weight of the current political climate.
Paul Conchatre, who owns Birdtail Waterfowl, a hunting lodge business, is answering a steady stream of calls.
'We're still getting a ton of inquiries, and it hasn't changed from last year to this year; it's kind of on par,' Conchatre said.
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Before the tariff talks and subsequent implementation, Conchatre said the number of inquiries was above average, although it has slowed slightly since March.
'But I'd say there's a lot of interaction from guests, just feeling out the temperature, the environment,' he said. 'A lot of it, I'm finding, is they're not on board with what is happening and there is a lot of empathy for us and Canadian business.
'They're glad they're still coming, but it's more of a check in to see how we feel. Are we mad at them?'
Those calls are entirely new territory for him.
'I laugh,' he said, adding that the strife isn't between regular Americans and Canadians, but rather the two governments.
Angela Cassie, Travel Manitoba's chief operating officer, said there isn't much evidence that bookings are being disproportionately affected, but the questions are similar to what others are getting: will we be welcome?
'Our message… is, 'Absolutely,'' Cassie said.
Economic Development Winnipeg reported that U.S. auto trips to Canada dropped by 7.9 per cent in February compared to the same time in 2024.
In Winnipeg, American visitors account for 25 per cent of all tourism spending, officials told city council last week.
Despite geopolitical unease, a recent Probe Research poll showed 86 per cent of Winnipeggers agree residents should continue to warmly welcome American travellers.
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That sentiment stretches beyond the city, Cassie added, pointing to the economic importance of fishing tourism.
'From an economic perspective, fishing is a huge growth market for us, and a lot of our fishing comes from Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa, and also as far as Texas and California,' she said.
As Travel Manitoba continues its U.S. marketing efforts, it's also pivoting to attract more Canadians who might be rethinking their traditional trips south.
'We're not keeping our eye off the ball to the south, we're continuing to market there… and maintaining a really high visibility there,' she said. 'But also trying to see is there opportunity in Alberta, in Ontario, to attract more anglers looking for Canadian locations.'
scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca
Scott BilleckReporter
Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott.
Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Seniors rarely downsize — here's why that's hurting first-time homebuyers
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Experts say it's a myth that seniors who own their homes are keen to downsize to fund their retirements, when the reality is they're largely staying put, in part because they don't like the downsizing options, making it harder for young prospective buyers to break into the housing market. Seniors are in fact the demographic that's least likely to move, according to data from the 2016 census. 'It's actually quite rare,' said Mike Moffatt, founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative at the University of Ottawa. Lebow said that when seniors do move, it's often because they're facing mobility or money issues — or both. He acknowledged there's a type of older Canadian who's keen to cash out on the family home, move into a smaller condo or apartment and take on a new lifestyle. But these are the unicorns, he said. In his work, it's common to come across seniors with three- or four-bedroom houses and no children at home to fill them anymore. More space than they need, in all likelihood, but no motivation to let it go. 'Moving is a traumatic experience,' Lebow said, whether it's the financial cost or the emotional toll of changing addresses and purging years of accumulated belongings. Beyond the typical home showings and paperwork, his job has ranged from rehoming a pet dog who couldn't be accommodated in a new abode to acting as de facto mediator when the prospect of mom or dad downsizing becomes a tense family conflict. Some of his clients are also facing cognitive decline, Lebow said, and only see their real estate agent as the guy trying to throw them out of their home. 'Believe me, I've been yelled at,' Lebow said. A Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. report from November 2023 also found that while there was a bit of a shift toward downsizing as Canadians age, that trend is still limited to a minority of older households. There's also minimal movement to condos or rental properties as Canadians age, the report found. Data from CMHC indicates the 'sell rate'— the proportion of Canadians older than 75 who are cashing out of the housing market — fell steadily between 1991 and 2021. Canadians are living longer and might also be in better financial shape as they get older, the agency said, letting them age in place. 'In order for them to leave, they would need something that met their needs as much. And often, that doesn't exist,' Moffatt said. Among the biggest factors motivating — or hindering — a move are cost and lifestyle, he said. Many seniors still want to be able to garden and host family over the holidays, he said, which makes a one-or-two bedroom condo in the downtown core unappealing. Moffatt said many older Canadians are keen to stay in their existing neighbourhoods, but smaller options are not readily available. Modern infill units set up for street-level access in older, residential neighbourhoods are the kinds of options many seniors need to give moving a second thought. The kind of sixplex-unit zoning recently up for debate at Toronto city council would create the kinds of units that would be right for many would-be downsizers, Moffatt noted. Toronto ultimately decided last month to broaden sixplex zoning to only some wards, leaving the others to opt in if they choose. Moving houses is also expensive when it comes to hiring movers, staging costs and the myriad of taxes and fees for real estate agents and lawyers. Measures to reduce the tax burden seniors face when moving can help to encourage more turnover of family homes, Moffatt said. The Liberal government tabled legislation in May to waive the federal GST on new homes, but it only applies to first-time homebuyers. Moffatt said it would 'absolutely' help improve supply in the housing market if that policy were extended to downsizing seniors. Such a move could sweeten the deal for seniors who are open to getting into a smaller condo unit but don't see the financial value in the move. That could spur a positive domino effect in the market: Moffatt explained that when move-up buyers are able to leave behind their starter homes to take on seniors' larger properties, that opens up more supply at the bottom of the housing ladder for first-time buyers. The Canadian Press reached out to Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne to ask if the federal government would consider expanding the GST rebate to seniors. A Finance Canada spokesperson did not mention seniors in their response, only saying in an email that the GST rebate is meant to help first-time buyers enter the housing market by lowering upfront costs to buying a home and spurring the construction of new housing across Canada. 'Incentivizing or reducing the barriers to building housing across the board benefits everyone,' Moffatt said. 'It is kind of an irony, but one of the best things we can do to help first-time homebuyers is to make it easier for seniors to move into new housing.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
National Observer
2 hours ago
- National Observer
Ottawa warned early in new year of wheels wobbling on $100 billion EV strategy
The federal government was warned early in 2025 that its $100 billion electric vehicle strategy was in danger of being run off the road by slowing North American EV sales and the economic mayhem sown by US President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, a newly released document reveals. François-Philippe Champagne, then federal minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, was sent a briefing note on Jan. 10 by his deputy minister, Philip Jennings, that flagged 'a decline in expectations' among EV makers that imperiled the plan's progress. 'The slowdown in growth has contributed to delays, modifications, or scaling back of planned investments' in the auto sector despite tens of billions of dollars in investments having already been announced, Jennings said in the document obtained by Canada's National Observer through an access to information and privacy request. The briefing note was delivered to Champagne only weeks after he told CNO that critics of the government's embattled EV strategy lacked 'vision and ambition.' Champagne was named Minister of National Revenue in a cabinet shuffle after the Liberals won the April federal election that also saw Mélanie Joly take over the Industry, Science and Economic Development portfolio. Developing an EV industrial ecosystem from mining critical minerals used in vehicle batteries to new assembly lines for electric vehicles would give Canada a competitive advantage in a global industry 'for decades to come — but not overnight,' Champagne said in December. Joly's office told Canada's National Observer that it 'recognizes the sector's concerns and is continuing to engage meaningfully with industry stakeholders to address and alleviate challenges' linked to US tariffs, though no specific action plan was outlined in its response. 'Despite short-term policy fluctuations, the long-term trajectory for EV adoption remains strong,' says Dunsky Energy analyst Lindsay Wiginton 'Our government is working to ensure EVs are made in Canada, so Canadian workers benefit from the growth and jobs in this industry," said a spokesperson. Canada's EV plans going flat? A total of $46.1 billion in investments across the Canadian EV supply chain was announced by automakers including Honda, Volkswagen, GM and Ford from October 2021 to April last year. Federal and provincial governments pledged $52.5 billion in incentives, tax breaks and other support, according to Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer, which provides economic analysis to the government. But dark skies have threatened the EV strategy and long-term future of auto manufacturing in Ontario as the Canada-US trade war drags on. In April, GM shuttered its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., where it builds an electric delivery van. GM expected to reopen the plant at 'half capacity' in the fall. Ford and Stellantis, which cited tariffs as a major factor in a $3.7 billion loss in the first half of 2025, have also suspended or delayed EV production in Canada. Some 40,000 EVs have been produced to-date in Canada, which in 2024 imposed a 100 per cent tariff on imports of Chinese EVs to protect the domestic industry. China made 12.4 million electric cars last year, accounting for 70 per cent of global EV output, according to the International Energy Agency. Battery makers have hit speed bumps too. A planned $7 billion EV manufacturing plant in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, Que, collapsed after Swedish battery maker Northvolt declared bankruptcy in March. The Quebec government lost a $270 million investment in the project. More recently, trouble emerged at the $5 billion NextStar EV battery factory being built by Stellantis and South Korea's LG Energy in Windsor, Ont. Several Canadian contractors have filed lawsuits alleging millions of dollars in unpaid work at the plant, which has received $15 billion in federal and provincial incentives, according to media reports. Jennings said in his briefing note that slowing EV purchases had 'created doubt in the trajectory of [future] sales'. Trump's executive orders soon after taking office to scrap Biden-era EV targets and tax credits, along with the end of federal EV incentives in Canada, have 'added uncertainty' in the market, the note said. 'In the long-term these impacts on their own are unlikely to jeopardize the prosperity of the automotive sector in Canada, but they depend on the electrification plans of the manufacturer and the health of the sector overall, including the impact of potential U.S. policies and tariffs,' Jennings said. EV transition 'unstoppable' The federal government should stick to its long-term plan for an EV supply chain in Canada because the global shift to EVs is 'unstoppable,' said Matthew Fortier, CEO of Accelerate, a Toronto-based zero-emissions vehicle industrial alliance. There are signs of 'underlying momentum' for Canada's EV industry, said Lindsay Wiginton, managing consultant at research house Dunsky Energy. She noted many analysts have a positive global EV outlook, including projections that a quarter of all cars sold in 2025 will be electric. That growth is 'driven in large part by the continued decline in lithium-ion battery costs that is helping to bring more affordable EV models' to market, she said. 'Despite short-term policy fluctuations, the long-term trajectory for EV adoption remains strong,' she added. Some auto makers are less optimistic. They want the federal government to drop a mandate for EVs to make up 20 per cent of cars sold in Canada by 2026 and 100 per cent by 2035 – arguing that slowing EV sales and US tariffs have delayed efforts to build an electric vehicle supply chain. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, speaking at a joint press conference on Tuesday with Alberta's Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan's Scott Moe, said: 'We have to get rid of these mandates. The companies won't be able to meet these targets. But let's not stop spending. I am confident that the EV sector will grow eventually.' Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin has been unswayed by their arguments so far, according to media reports. Canada's 'competitive advantages' Fortier said Canada's automotive sector cannot hope to be 'globally relevant in 10-15 years' unless Ottawa focuses on 'competitive advantages that our neighbours don't have' in areas including critical minerals, advanced industrial materials, and EV battery technology. 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'Any standing tariff on Canadian-made cars is a reminder that we urgently need to develop more negotiating leverage. The way to do this is to build upstream and midstream capacity for the batteries that will power the future of this sector,' he said.
National Observer
2 hours ago
- National Observer
Wet'suwet'en complaint to bank puts Ottawa on notice over nation-building agenda
The Wet'suwet'en Nation has spent years fighting fossil fuel projects that rip through their land in British Columbia without consent. Now, as familiar threats mount, the nation has taken the issue to Tokyo — where a corporate battle could serve as a warning for Prime Minister Mark Carney as he pursues his infrastructure agenda. Wet'suwet'en hereditary Chief Na'Moks filed a complaint last week with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation's (JBIC) independently appointed environmental examiners — tasked with investigating alleged environmental wrongdoing — detailing environmental harms and human rights abuses from the construction of the Coastal Gaslink project that transports fracked gas from the Montney region in the province's northeast to LNG Canada's export terminal on the coast. The bank loaned US $850 million to the project in 2021. 'Despite the Wet'suwet'en having repeatedly rejected the project, JBIC proceeded to approve financing for the LNG Canada terminal and the associated Coastal GasLink pipeline without securing proper [free, prior and informed consent],' the filing reads. The filing called the approval without the hereditary chiefs' consent 'a fundamental breach of both Canadian law and international human rights standards.' The issues raised in the complaint may hinge on actions taken in the past, but as Carney prioritizes major projects in the name of nation-building, the concerns detailed in the filing serve as a warning for the risks ahead, Na'Moks told Canada's National Observer. 'We're living in a petrostate being enforced by a police state,' he said in a phone call from the sidelines of the First Nations major projects summit. 'Everybody goes 'Oh not in Canada.' 'I said, 'Wait until they come through your doors with axes and power saws. Wait until you step outside and have snipers.'' 'We're living in a petrostate being enforced by a police state,' Wet'suwet'en Nation Hereditary Chief Na'Moks said. "Wait until they come through your doors with axes and power saws. Wait until you step outside and have snipers.' At the First Nations summit last week, Carney said no major projects have been finalized and he was there to listen to Indigenous leadership. However, as Canada's National Observer reported, there are more than a dozen megaprojects already under consideration. Multiple government sources have told Canada's National Observer that an expansion to LNG Canada is very likely to make Carney's list. Ultimately the decision to invest rests with LNG Canada's owners (Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and the Korean Gas Corporation), but incentivizing the companies to invest appears to be a major priority for Carney's government. That's concerning to We'suwet'en hereditary leadership. The complaint filed against JBIC urges the bank to 'immediately suspend any further financing' of the LNG Canada project, including potential expansions. Na'Moks said his experience watching a major project built through his nation's territory without consent gives him an up-close view to the risks that are now afoot as Ottawa contemplates a renewed push to build. 'We know we were the template for how they're going to protect industry without our approval,' he said. Battling the banks As the Coastal Gaslink pipeline was being built four years ago, land defenders from the nation and its allies blockaded roads and set up camp at the Gidimt'en Checkpoint to slow construction and push costs up in a bid to stop the pipeline. Armed RCMP officers hacked through the door of one small cabin to arrest those inside in a dramatic scene captured by photojournalist Amber Bracken and filmmaker Michael Toladano (an event that is now the subject of a lawsuit from Bracken's employer, The Narwhal). Weeks later, more land defenders were arrested at standoffs with police, with several claiming dehumanizing treatment as they were hauled to police headquarters and held in enclosures the size of a 'dog kennel.' The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in 2022 it 'profoundly regrets and is concerned' that Canada is forcibly removing Indigenous land defenders from their unceded territory, and the provincial and federal governments have been similarly condemned by leading human rights group Amnesty International. As the furor around those arrests faded, Wet'suwet'en hereditary leadership continued to fight the pipeline by targeting its financiers. They attended shareholder meetings and confronted bank leadership. Nevertheless, the pipeline was built and the first shipment of LNG from Kitimat departed this summer. Na'Moks said the nation decided to file a complaint with the JBIC because the bank finances LNG Canada. The bank has environmental and social guidelines to help determine which projects to invest in, but the complaint alleges JBIC failed to meaningfully implement them. Na'Moks said that filing the complaint is to provide the 'right information' because the reports the bank has received are 'a copy and paste from industry and government.' 'Without the CGL pipeline, the LNG Canada terminal would not be viable; and without JBIC's financing, this export infrastructure system would not have progressed at its current scale,' the complaint reads. 'JBIC's financing played a decisive role in enabling this interconnected system. And by failing to adequately review the impacts of its associated facility, JBIC bears responsibility for contributing to the resulting harm.' JBIC did not return a request for comment. De-escalating a fraught situation LNG Canada's first shipment overseas marks a turning point for the gas sector in Canada. Before the LNG export terminal began sending shipments abroad, 99.9 per cent of Canadian gas exports headed into the United States. With US President Donald Trump threatening a drawn-out trade war, Carney riding to victory in April's election on a promise to build up Canada's economic resilience, and the fossil fuel industry lobbying for more oil and gas infrastructure, the country is staring down the barrel of a major fossil fuel expansion — including in Kitimat itself. If LNG Canada Phase 2 is built, expanding export capacity at the site will involve increasing storage tanks, new processing facilities and more tanker traffic through vulnerable coastal waters. But it will also mean increasing the amount of gas fracked in northeastern BC, and sending more gas through the Coastal GasLink pipeline. To do that, additional compressor stations will need to be built to squeeze more gas into the pipeline. 'With more gas flowing you have increased risk,' said Richard Brooks, climate finance director at To stay onside with UNDRIP, as Carney has committed, communities like the Wet'suwet'en First Nation would have to consent to new facilities like compressor stations being built — otherwise their rights under both Canadian and international law would be violated. For Brooks, this is a major lesson Ottawa must learn. When Indigenous rights are 'trampled,' opposition to proposed projects skyrocket — and that then impacts the viability of the projects. He pointed to increased legal costs, security costs and lengthy delays that push construction costs higher. 'Indigenous communities have proven time and time again … that they have the power to slow and stop projects from moving ahead,' he said. 'So this is why it's so important to have First Nations involved from the beginning to be proponents of these projects, to have the process be one that is not imposed, but rather is a collaborative process, whatever project it is.' Carney has said projects will proceed with Indigenous consent, but by putting in place legislation to fast-track projects before securing consent from nations who could be affected, there are plenty of risks ahead, said Senwung Luk, a partner at law firm Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP, specializing in Aboriginal rights and title and the Crown's fiduciary obligations to First Nations. Luk said Carney would have been better off starting with a list of projects, and thinking about which nations would need to consent to figure out how to build them — rather than starting with a new law that gives the federal government the ability to bulldoze over concerns. 'It's an odd way to start a conversation, to point a nuclear weapon at the person that you're trying to talk to,' he said. 'If you believe in free, prior and informed consent, you can't only believe in that except for when Indigenous people oppose your project,' he said. 'That wouldn't be any sort of meaningful concept of consent.'
