Newsom’s New Tourism Pitch to Canadians: Come Here Cuz Our Oranges Are Trump-Free!

Mutually shared antipathy isn’t normally an incentive for pleasure travel, but, as there isn’t a thing this greasy weasel won’t try at least once, let the smarmy smiles fly.

COME ON DOWN, CANADIANS – WE HATE TRUMP, TOO!

The Golden State and Canada have always shared so much in common.

Sure, you-know-who is trying to stir things up back in DC, but don’t let that ruin your vacation plans.

We’re launching a new international campaign to welcome and encourage Canadians to visit the Golden State. pic.twitter.com/ko24o5WkWp

— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) April 15, 2025

I don’t know where California’s oleaginous chief executive ever got the idea that Canadians would be wooed by a pitch of this timbre or that their sympathies needed to be engaged before they’d step foot in the States.

For Atlantic Canada, their noses are out of joint, and they’ve decided to stay home for a while.

In 2022, the top state visited by land travel, unsurprisingly, was New York. Seeing as that’s just a pop across any section of a long stretch of the Northern border, that’s not a shock at all, with four times as many visitors as those who made it to California. 

1. Top U.S. States Visited: New York (1.9 million), Florida (836K), Washington (785K), California (477K) and Michigan (463K)
2. Top Main Purpose of Trip: Vacation/Holiday (75.2%), Visit Friends/Relatives (19.3%)

If Canadians were going to any lengths flying or driving in their vacation travel, they overall preferred the Free State of Florida. 

Over 4.1 million Canadians visit Florida every year including many short term visitors and many long term winter snowbirds. The state of Florida is known around the world for its white sandy beaches and many exciting attractions. Follow your fellow Canadians to discover Florida’s hidden splendors of great beauty and diversity, or you can just simply relax while enjoying the beautiful weather!

What isn’t in that delightful paragraph is that Florida is also affordable, be it for a family or just the two of you, in everything from accommodations to the gas in your rental car. California gas prices have dropped a smidge over the past couple of weeks, so they’re tapping in the $4.80- $5 gallon mark for regular according to the averages.

Here in the Redneck Riviera, with our squeaky sugar sand beaches, regular is $2.79 and the sales tax is seven and a half cents in the county, a bit more out at the beaches.

These beaches.

But, yeah, whatever, Newsom.

And while the sun might shine in both places, CA sidewalks are a bit messier. And why go on vacation to deal with that?

This is last month. I hold my kid close! Protecting them 100% . We arent going to run past these drug users in fear like a bunch of chickens. These addicts need to see kids to realize they are hurting people other than themselves! https://t.co/nhRaXoXOPW

— Andrés Wíken (@andres_wiken) April 16, 2025

Pick practically any city.

Hollywood, California

The intersection of Gavin Newsom’s booming tourism and $24 BILLION homeless solution.

Ready to book your next vacation, Canada?
pic.twitter.com/FFZ3lMPolp https://t.co/gkIweZsH0V

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) April 15, 2025

Or the chances of your rental car – or your belongings in it – getting boosted while you’re parked?

Nah. I can’t see it. 

Part of it is Trump and 51st state, hurt #feelingz, travel documents, and tariffs, and part of it is the Fidelito legacy of a crumbling Canadian economy now buffeted by tariff ‘what ifs’ and people not having the money to spend. Or being prudent and waiting before they do.

Canada’s economy was already stumbling a few months ago. Now, it is on the brink of recession because of President Trump’s tariffs.

Canada’s economy is starting to shed jobs after months of tariff-fueled anxiety, while the outlook among businesses and consumers has become increasingly dour as one of the U.S.’s largest trading partners braces for more pain to come.

“The tariff shock is hitting hard,” said Robert Embree, an economist with Rosenberg Research. Canada is teetering on the brink of a recession, he said. And that is even after Trump seemingly spared Canada from the worst of the reciprocal tariffs levied against virtually all of the U.S.’s trading partners.

If they’re going to spend money, it will be somewhere that their Canadian dollars are both appreciated and go further.

And not to say the tariff tiff hasn’t impacted Florida, because it definitely has, particularly South Florida. Pre-paid Canadian rentals and homeowners are back, but there are also plenty of canceled reservations. And some of the homeowners are grousing about selling and staying in Canada to ‘support their country.’ One older fellow said he would have stayed home in Canada this year, ‘if only the weather wasn’t so damn nice down here.’ 

There was an interesting point made in one of the articles I read that rang very true. It’s not only a national pride contretemps responsible for the drop-off, but a ‘generational shift’ happening. The forty-something and younger kids don’t want to hit the same place year after year, as their parents have done for generations.

They have fewer children and generally more latitude to go elsewhere and do anything that tickles their fancy. Buying that prized condo in Boca, Naples, or Fort Myers isn’t part of their travel dreams.

…The move away from Florida also reflects a generational shift, Sylvain Dupont, a Realtor® in Boca Raton, FL, told Canadian Mortgage Professional in January.

“Younger couples or people, they want to travel. They’ll spend a winter in Portugal, or they’ll go to Miami, they’ll go to Mexico, or they’ll go to the Dominican Republic,” DuPont said.

“Buying a place in Florida is like our grandparents and our parents used to do. The youngsters, they don’t do so anymore.”

That’s a wrinkle that has yet to be accounted for in the noise about tariffs and fifty-first states, not to mention the Canadian elections just around the corner.

But it is something that all Newsom’s toothy TDS faux-community appeal is powerless against. Wanderlust and the wherewithal to indulge it.

Unless, of course, the governor is just using this campaign as one more state-funded campaign to get his photogenic self in the public eye as much as humanly possible for…future plans?

Nah.

How cynical of me to even to suggest it.