To the Editor:

“Why are we messing with Canada?!” exclaimed the man delivering firewood to one of us. “We sell logs up there, and our guy comes back with things from Canada. Did you hear they might cut off their electricity to here? My bill’s already about $180. What’s it going to be if they do that?”
People are alarmed at what the tariffs could do to Northern New York which has enjoyed a mutually friendly trade relationship with Canada for over 100 years. Maple producers are concerned because they sell their products to Canada, for example.
In February, Canadian visits were down 23 percent compared to a year ago. Earlier, the U.S. Travel Association warned that even a 10% reduction in Canadian visitors could translate to $2.1 billion in lost revenue and cost 140,000 jobs. Do the math for a 23 percent reduction. It’s actually over $4 billion in losses and a quarter of a million jobs, according to Forbes.

This is going to slam local tourism. Our neighbors to the north do not appreciate hearing about tariffs or the ridiculous and repeated announcements of them becoming our 51st state, and our neighbors here who own restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, and etc. take the hit.
If enacted, tariffs on the electricity our region receives from Canada will not only slam people like the man delivering firewood, but will especially slam our farmers who already operate on “razor-thin margins,” according to David Fisher, President of the New York State Farm Bureau which has joined opposition to a “wide-reaching slate of tariffs being proposed by U.S. President Donald J. Trump,” according to an article North Country This Week.
Here’s a real life illustration of how retaliatory tariffs on electricity would slam local farmers. Blake Gendebien is a second generation dairy farmer who grew up in the North Country, and he’s our presumptive Democratic nominee for Congress once Stefanik resigns. He shared that his current average electric bill is about $4000 a month, and said that even going to $4500 would hurt substantially, adding up to an additional $6000 a year. That slams Blake’s family financially, and probably means more expensive cheese for the rest of us.
Weren’t “lower grocery prices” something we were all promised? If you want someone who understands the impact of these tariffs, who knows how to really reduce grocery prices, send a farmer to Washington when the special election happens. Vote for Blake Gendebien.

Mike Zagrobelny
Ginger Storey-Welch
Chair and Vice-Chair of the St. Lawrence County Democratic Party