By Becky Day
They say there is power in numbers. If we could all think outside the box and overcome some psychological obstacles, binationalism might just boost our economy. If we don’t start working collaboratively as a binational region, we are all going to lose.
Kenneth Franasiak of the Western New York-based Calamar organization and Arlene White, executive director of the Canada/U.S. Tourism Alliance for this greater Niagara region.
This was the message from Kenneth Franasiak, Calamar president, and Arlene White, executive director of the Binational Economic and Tourism Alliance. (It is also a message that is conveyed in many other posts available on Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com). In a dinner dialogue held at the Keefer Mansion Inn in Thorold, Ontario titled; “Both Niagara’s – Our Bi-National Region ….Opportunities and Opportunities,” both speakers pressed the issue that we need to embrace the incredible potential of the region for future growth on both sides of the border.
Both said our binational region needs to work, think and explore opportunities together. The facts they delivered were not very uplifting. White said people aren’t coming here to visit and Franasiak echoed they aren’t coming here to set up big commercial business either.
But the only thing dividing the two Niagaras is a Peace Bridge that is less than two kilometres long. It’s less than the distance between downtown St.Catharines, Ontario and the outlying Pen Centre mall in that same community. If we could just learn to “go over the river” again, both sides would prosper. Franasiak suggested we change our mentality and look at the border as a gateway to half of the Canadian and American population.
“It’s easy for us to believe that Canada ends at a River,” said Phil Ritchie, Keefer’s innkeeper and series moderator. But the bridge runs both ways, and although Niagara Canada is the gateway into the entire GTA market, Americans aren’t crossing like they did in the past. The round table discussion talked about the importance of bringing both sides of the business community together.
“We need to market the area as a whole,” said Niagara regional councillor Robert Gabriel. “I think that’s something we need to work on.”
White explained how tourism has decreased since 2001. She said 9/11, SARs, passport requirements, recession, HST, H1N1 and gas prices have all affected border traffic. She feels it is critical to overcome all this and get those day-trippers back because we have the most to lose. “Our situation is relatively unique,” she said. “If you don’t live in a border community, you don’t get it. We need to educate all of the municipalities because we’re all affected by the impact of the border.”
She focused on how many people find customs intimidating and how there is a higher percentage of Canadians with passports than Americans. She also claimed the NEXUS pass was the faster, easier way to cross. “NEXUS alleviates that pressure,” added Sandra Lister, a Calamar executive who crosses frequently. “It’s the easy way out…the path of least resistance.”
According to White, not only do the private sector and government need to join forces, but Americans need to be invited to come back and we need to reward people for being local. She reminded the group that we have invested into the area for 20 years and are not lacking opportunity, especially with world junior hockey, world flat water races and the pan am games approaching.
“Americans don’t know what we have,” she said. “This is critical right now because we’re losing business.” So how do we re-ignite the attitude where people think the binational region is their own again? How does the binational region get a unified plan? Remember the days when going over the river was commonplace?
“Both sides of the border need to focus on their strengths,” said Ernie Reimer, St. Catharines building supplies. For the area to prosper and for people to start buying, the participants agreed that businesses have to get more value conscious and stop pricing themselves out of the market. “We’re building a poor older economy,” added Franasiak. But he is hopeful that Southern Ontario will become the new frontier over the next two decades. He emphasized a need to invest in manufacturing, information technology, telecommunications, tourism, biotechnology, transportation equipment, agriculture and higher education. “We must look to solution and cooperation with our neighbours for we cannot do this in a vacuum,” he added.
While White feels the government has far too much control, Franasiak urged the group to focus on Binational regional cooperation, leadership between the private and public sector, jointly harnessing tourism, education and commerce initiatives and collaborating on economic development.
“People don’t get what we have here,” he said. “We need to gather the business community and get a plan. When’s the last time we pushed an agenda jointly?” Rather than isolating each region, both White and Franasiak feel it is in our best interest to create synergies and more binational discussion. Although the Binational region is clouded right now, they see a silver lining of change and opportunity ahead.
“If Niagara Canada is going to succeed, it cannot do it without Niagara USA,” said Phil Ritchie. “Let’s push the agenda forward because I think it’s important. We don’t create the economic energy we need to keep our kids here, and we need to change that.”
The Keefer Mansion has been hosting the dinner series to foster dialogue on subjects of importance to the development of our greater Niagara region. It is scheduled to continue on a monthly basis until October.
The next dinner dialogue “Green Niagara….A Region in Transition” will be hosted by Andrew Heintzman, President and CEO of Investeco, will be held on June 22. For more information, go to http://www.keefermansion.com/specialevents.html
(Becky Day is a Niagara journalist and publisher of The Niagara Post. To link to news from across the region, you can visit her site at http://www.theniagarapost.com/.)
(Click on www.niagaraatlarge.com for Niagara At Large and more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to our greater binational Niagara region.)
Duh-Oh! Tell that to the narrow-minded zenophobic people on both sides of the border who think it is an act of treason spend money outside one’s own country. With the dollar near parody, more and more people are cross-border shopping. There are some who keep theirs patriotic noses in the air and vilify those who take advantage of it. Yet, they think nothing of shopping at big box stores where practically everything is made in China.
We very much need a green sort of bi-nationalism and one linked to ecological restoration. Canadians should support for instance, the campaign to dismantle the horrific Robert Moses Parkway, which disfigures the rim of the Niagara Gorge. One proposal, put forward by people advocating this, is to reconstruct the old Lewiston-Queenston suspension bridge as a pedesterian-cycling trail. This would link Art Park with the Queenston Bandshell operated for concerts by the Niagara Parks Commission. This would allow a family to have a wonderful day’s walk from St. Catharines to Niagara Falls, fist taking the Bruce Trail, and then hiking along a spectacuarily restored native landscape to the beautiful American Falls at Goat Island. Such features would be a marvellow drawing card to have visitors stay longer in our region and would be a vivid contrast to such ugly monsters like Project Niagara and the Fort Erie Canadian Motor Speedway.
I am at home either side of the border my family has roots in both countries we are basically family, who got in a disagreement 200 years ago,I have grand children born on both sides of the bridge,my nephew is a US Consul General and can trace my roots to Myles Standish of the Mayflower fame,my grandmother was a Standish the original family of Standish, Lancashire UK.