Maine Governor Janet Mills tried hard to convince a skeptical New Brunswick business crowd that people from the province had nothing to fear about travelling to her state. But when she and New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt took questions on Tuesday from a Chamber of Commerce audience in Fredericton, local financial adviser David Dennis said his own family member had serious anxiety about such a trip.
Normally, Dennis travels to Maine every spring, where his family spends a few thousand dollars in the Portland area. This year, his wife Solli Dennis, who is originally from Venezuela, refused to go.
She had seen on the news that several of her compatriots had been put in detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as I.C.E., part of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants whom he’s called “animals” and “not human.”
“I said to her, there’s nothing to worry about, you have a blue Canadian passport,” said Dennis, who works for the financial planner Investment Planning Counsel. “You cross the border no problem.”
“And her comment to me was, ‘not going.'” Dennis said he was really disappointed because he loves taking the trip.
Three or four days after the conversation with his wife last March, there was an article in The Guardian about a Canadian, Jasmine Mooney, who was detained in an I.C.E. detention centre for two weeks following a mix up with her visa.
“My wife took that moment to gloat. She pointed to the picture and said, ‘Look. A blonde Canadian white woman for two weeks was in detention. I’m not going to the States this year. Nor will I be going to the States for the coming years.’ And that deeply hurts me to tell you that story.”
The governor thanked Dennis for the story, describing it as moving.
“It does hurt me to hear it,” she said. “I understand the fear your wife has. I don’t blame her for that. But I’m also here to protect the seaside resort that’s been in existence since 1667, always in the same family down in Kennebunkport, that always had Canadian families come year after year, 350-something years of being in business.”
She was referring to the Seaside Inn, Maine’s oldest business.
“I can sit there and tell them we should all market to other states instead of to the Canadians. But that’s not fair either. Because those relationships are so deep.”
Mills, 77, is on a tour of the Maritimes, spreading the message that Maine deeply appreciates its economic and cultural ties to Canada, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of punishing tariffs and talk of the country becoming the 51st American state.
One of her biggest concerns is the huge drop in tourism, worth $500 million US last year alone to the state, one of its most important economic drivers.
Of the 800,000 visitors from Canada to Maine, half of them entered from New Brunswick.
Earlier this year, Mills said initial indications showed Maine would lose about 225,000 visitors this year, mostly Canadians who are fed up with Trump.
That’s a lot fewer people visiting Acadia National Park, New Orchard Beach and the ski resorts of Sugarloaf, Sunday River, and Saddleback Mountain.
During the talk held inside a conference room at the Cyber Security Centre in Fredericton, Mills insisted Canadians had nothing to fear about travelling to Maine.
The Democratic governor, a foe of Trump’s who’s famous for telling him “See you in court!” during a heated exchange at the White House in February over federal funding, recently installed welcome signs to Canadians at 13 border crossings with New Brunswick.
She also cited statistics that showed Maine vied with Vermont for having the lowest violent crime rate in the United States.
But afterwards during a media scrum, a reporter asked Mills how she could prevent people from being detained, given she had no control over federal border control or I.C.E.
“I can understand the angst when you hear one or two stories along a 4,000-mile-long border. It can be scary. And people have a right to feel anxiety. But tens of thousands of people are crossing every day along the whole length of the border. And I can tell people from Canada and New Brunswick, when they come to Maine, they will be kept safe.”
Holt was chummy with the governor, who she considers a political ally. Both politicians are the first women to lead their jurisdictions, and both share the same brand of progressive politics mixed with fiscal responsibility.
Seated side by side on the stage in comfortable armchairs, the pair stressed the need for Maine and New Brunswick to maintain their longstanding relationship.
There was a lot of talk about the importance of wood, lobster and oil crossing the border, in many cases in raw form before heading back after processing.
The premier said New Brunswick could hedge its business by diversifying its trade with other countries and regions, while still doing commerce with Maine.
But Holt stuck to her guns when it came to tourism. New Brunswick tourism businesses are benefiting from Canadians staying at home during their vacation, and she won’t encourage them to travel to the United States.
“A lot of people don’t feel safe in the U.S. right now, and for good reason,” she said, as Mills smiled beside her ruefully. “Until that changes, I think the climate for visitors will continue to be difficult. We are seeing the benefits of that in New Brunswick, where our tourism season has been really strong so far.”
Later, Brunswick News asked Mills what message she was delivering to the people of northern Maine, who voted heavily in favour of Trump in last November’s presidential election.
In the state overall, 52% voted for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, while 45% voted for Trump. However, in northern Maine, including along the border with New Brunswick and Quebec, the majority overwhelmingly favoured Trump.
For example, 62% in Aroostook County voted for the Republican nominee, while 61% in Washington Country chose him, New Brunswick’s next-door neighbours.
“Nobody I know who voted for Trump thought the economy would be where it is today,” Mills answered. “We heard a lot of political talk last fall from Mr. Trump that said he was going to bring down prices and he was going to give a boost to our economy. But what we are seeing now is an increase in the price of bread and goods at the grocery stores, an increase in the price of cars and trucks and the increase of the cost of construction at a time when we all need more home construction.”
The governor said the people of Maine who voted for Trump were beginning to ask what had happened to that promise of cost relief. She blames Trump’s tariffs, which she calls nothing more than a tax.
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