The 19 bus

The number 19 bus runs north-south on Bay Street in Toronto between Davenport Road in the north and Union Station in the south. I’ve taken that bus regularly since moving downtown in 2018. There’s always been just a handful of passengers.
But this week, as I rode northbound from King Street, people kept clambering on. By the time we reached my stop near Bloor, the vehicle was so packed that I almost couldn’t get out.
I also talked to my daughter who last week drove over the border to the U.S. at Niagara. Going into the U.S., there was no line-up. Coming back a few days later there was a long wait to clear Canadian customs.
These events mean to me that (a) more tourists than usual are visiting Toronto, and (b) even some Americans have decided to see what we’re all about. I’ve noticed more advertising for Canada in general and Toronto in particular but, still, the numbers are up.
A story in my morning newspaper this week said that tourism spending in Canada could grow by as much as 4 per over last year, mostly because more Canadians are travelling at home.
I also read that many Canadians with places in Florida are putting them on the market. The reason all of this is happening is simple: Donald Trump. Nobody wants to be anywhere near him, not on holiday, not even in our cold winters. And for all his bravado on tariffs, I think Canadians should be grateful.
I know, tariffs will hurt business and push up costs, but we’ll survive. After all, the vast majority of our trade falls under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. launched In 2020, CUSMA replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Both agreements came with firm rules no president can alter.
Of much greater concern to me than all of the above is our poor rate of productivity. We may be a welcoming nation but Canadians simply don’t work as hard or as ably as Americans.
Among the worst offenders are small business owners in Canada. They have a dozen employees, a decent level of sales, and pay themselves $250,000 a year. But too many of them don’t consider what’s possible. They don’t want to work harder and grow their companies into world-beaters. Such terminal lassitude is a far bigger issue for us than Trump or tourism. Whatever’s wrong with Canada, we have only ourselves to blame.