There’s a small fringe of prairie folk making a lot of noise about leaving Canada and becoming the 51st state.
The rest of Alberta? Not so much.
Land Crossings Stall
Travel data shows that many Albertans are distancing themselves from their southern neighbours.
Land border crossings and bookings on flights bound for US destinations are both down.
According to Statistics Canada, 35.2 percent fewer Canadians traveled to the States by car this April than April of last year.
Friends and Neighbours
Tourism and travel-based businesses in Montana are feeling it.
“We have some businesses that are saying they haven’t seen much of a change, while we are hearing from others that they’re seeing anywhere from 20 to 30 or 40 percent of a decrease in bookings from their Canadian clients and customers,” Racine Friede, the president and CEO of Western Montana’s Glacier Country, told CBC News.
“Canadians are not just a market to us. They are friends and they are neighbours, and that’s how we view them.”
Flight Bookings Lag
Flight arrivals to YEG and YYC are down as well
This follows a national trend as more Canadians make alternate travel plans.
In response to this dip in demand, WestJet recently cancelled nine US-bound routes including Calgary – Fort Lauderdale, Edmonton – Chicago and Edmonton – Atlanta.
Though still rare, stories about Canadians being harassed at the US border are not helping to motivate Canadians to fill seats in planes or pack the car and head south for an American vacation.
Jasmine Mooney’s Ordeal
In March, Canadian actress and entrepreneur Jasmine Mooney attempted to enter the US at the San Ysidro crossing between California and Mexico.
Mooney, who has traveled back and forth between Canada and the US for most of her life, had paperwork to apply for a visa that permits Mexicans and Canadians to work in the US.
US border officials immediately detained the 35-year-old.
“They took me, they took all of my luggage. They took my phone, my hands against the wall,” she told NPR.
Mooney spent 48 hours in a holding cell.
“They handed me this little mat and this aluminum foil thing that you use as a blanket. You wrap it around yourself like a dead body, because it’s so cold in the cells, and you just lay there. I laid on the cement floor for two days, and no one told me what was going on,” she said.
On the third day, the Yukon-born Mooney said she was allowed her first phone call.
Then she was shuffled to two other detention facilities, first in San Diego and then Arizona.
Mooney’s 11-day imprisonment ordeal made international news.
