A Tale of 3 Cities

Border rules could dim Falls' lights: Niagara's success depends on ease of U.S. crossings
Diane Francis
16 March 2006
National Post

BUFFALO - In 1900, this was America's eighth-largest city and an industrial heartland. Even as recently as the 1960s, Buffalo was where Canadians went for weekends to enjoy the benefits of big-city living.

Today, Toronto is the capital of the region and Buffalo has slumped to 48th in size in the United States.

The reason for its precipitous and ongoing decline can be blamed on an establishment of politicians, business people and union leaders who failed to realize they must change. The city was built on cheap power from the Falls, which became insufficient as a competitive advantage.

Even more of a contrast is the Niagara Falls, N.Y., versus Niagara Falls, Ont., situations. One is dying and one is prospering.

Americans realize they can learn a lot from Canadians.

"Look at the can-do attitude north of the border," said my Buffalo cab driver as we approached the Niagara Falls convention centre in New York. "The Canadians just got in there and did it."

Visible north of the border are neon lights and skyscraper hotels. South of the border is a boarded-up mall and one skyscraper casino-hotel, which was built on Seneca Indian land with Malaysian money.

Ironically, the spark that ignited Niagara Falls, Ont., was the socialist government of Bob Rae, which encouraged the building of casinos in Niagara Falls and Windsor to create jobs in these heavily unionized, declining cities.

But the main attraction is the Falls, which draw 22 million tourists a year from around the world. Jimmy Pattison's Ripley's Believe it or Not has acquired Great Wolf Lodge, a U.S. company, and is building a gigantic family resort with a large water park on the Canadian side.

Canadians have done a terrific job of adding attractions.

Wineries such as Inniskillen offer tours. Niagara-on-the-Lake is an architectural gem. Hong Kong entrepreneur Jimmy Lai owns most of the village's dining and hotel venues and recently announced he will use his Vintage Inns corporate entity there to create a chain in North America of 300 hotels.

Last week, these and other Canadian success stories were on the minds of those who attended a tourism conference sponsored by Ontario, New York State and local businesses.

I was a speaker at the event, which was convened so players could network and figure out how they could create a joint tourism destination.

They were also trying to figure out how to avert, or cope with, the Homeland Security requirement by 2008 for a passport or ID card to re-enter the United States. Only 42% of Canadians have passports and fewer than 15% of Americans do. And the concern is that day trippers or one-time visitors won't bother to get one.

Efforts to lobby will fail and even New York Senator Hillary Clinton has backed off attempts to stop the requirement.

Countless federal and state politicians have tried to pull Western New York out of the doldrums, but mediocre politicians, corruption and cronyism have prevented development.

It's significant the only development in the region of any size is the US$500-million Seneca Indian hotel-casino in Niagara Falls, N.Y., because it was able to completely bypass the impediments of government approval (it was built on Indian lands), rivalry and banking hassles.

Apart from the economic asymmetry, the other key issue in the area is the transportation delays due to booming free trade between the two countries. Nearly one-third of all trade crosses this region's bridges and train connections.

There are four bridges linking the two. Improvements in traffic flows, extra lanes and more customs officials have relieved the situation. The prime culprit is not infrastructure but governments that often inadequately staff customs booths, creating delays of hours for trucks and passenger vehicles.

One bright spot in Buffalo is the thousands of Canadians who use its airport to take advantage of discount airlines. Low-cost airlines began flying out of Buffalo in 2002 and volumes have increased fourfold.

At the same time, New York residents flock to Toronto's airport to make Caribbean and international connections, said Paul Mountain, CEO of the area's only ground link and tour service, Niagara Airbus.

While synergies here help, there is no question the passport re-entry issue will harm Canadian businesses across the country. This, plus sufficient border personnel, must be a priority for the new Conservative government.>