Canadian snowbirds defy Trump tariffs as they enjoy Florida sunshine

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Afternoons are for tennis at the Palmetto Palms RV Resort, even if you're 82 years old and it's 84 degrees Fahrenheit.

Donald Lamadeleine plays energetically, despite his age, and despite the sun beating down on the court -- or maybe because of it.

Lamadeleine is one of a multitude of Canadian snowbirds who have fallen in love with Florida's sunshine and he's not about to give it up because U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening tariffs and musing about Canada as his country's 51st state.

Lamadeleine and his wife, Suzanne St. Pierre, 79, have been visiting Florida annually for 30 years, 18 of them in the Palmetto Palms, a gated community of 685 RVs and modest homes for people over 55, where they can always find doubles for tennis on the outdoor court. In February.

"The tariffs probably won't go through," said Lamadeleine, a thought echoed by neighbour Barbara Auswald, 82, from the GTA.

"He's already making concessions with Mexico, and giving us a month," reasoned Auswald, who lives in the park with her husband Erich, 83.

Lamadeleine jokingly introduces himself to his American neighbours as a resident of the 51st state -- just for laughs -- but, like many of his fellow snowbirds, Lamadeleine just doesn't believe Trump will follow through on all his threats, including the tariffs, which would hurt everyone.

The airwaves in this small city of 97,000 are full of talk-show pundits socking it liberals, mocking the elites who just don't get it -- who haven't been getting it for years and haven't been listening to the growing number of voters now implacably opposed to an agenda they see as a direct attack on their traditional values.

There's a number you can't get away from in Florida this week: more than 77 million Americans voted for Trump.

Still, maybe it's age, maybe it's wisdom, maybe it's wishful thinking, but some of the Canadian snowbirds in this proudly red state are unmoved by Trump's threats and proclamations that the U.S. doesn't need Canada.

Couples with dual incomes and no divorces -- who worked hard, spent cautiously, stayed married and saved prodigiously to earn the privilege of escaping winter for months at a time -- are not the kind of people who run off madly in all directions the first few weeks into a new presidency, no matter how startling they may be.

Lamadeleine's daughter cancelled a holiday in Hawaii to protest Trump's America.

"I told her, are you crazy," said Lamadeleine, a general contractor whose point of view has something to do with age. At 82, each new day is a gift not to be squandered. He took up tennis at 70. He and his wife still cycle to the beach, play pickleball, volleyball, fish.

"Do what you want, it's your life," he said he told his daughter. "I'm not cancelling."

Lamadeleine doesn't support all of Trump's policies, but he supports some of them, like his hard line on China and illegal immigrants -- emphasis on illegal.

If prices were to increase due to tariffs, Lamadeleine, who still does some work as a contractor and owns a campground near Ottawa where he and his wife spend the summer, is in a position to handle it.

The Auswalds meanwhile, have decided to sell their land in the RV park because the value of the Canadian dollar is making their annual U.S. excursion increasingly expensive, with no relief in sight. They plan to spend more time visiting Canada.

Canadian Snowbirds make up the single largest group of tourists to Fort Myers, said Mayor Kevin B. Anderson. They visit so routinely and stay for so long that they are part of the social fabric of the city; Anderson counts Canadians among his closest friends.

"I think a majority of people will say we're good neighbours for each other," said Anderson, who approves of Trump's ability to "get things done."

Canadian snowbirds gravitate toward Fort Myers the same way immigrants to Canada tend to cluster by nationality, said Anderson. Germans prefer Cape Coral, about a 30-mile drive away. Greeks congregate in Tarpon Springs to the north.

Restaurants like the ones in the Fort Myers Historical District, an area that was derelict 40 years ago and has been restored to its Art Deco glory, rely on the winter tourist trade.

Summers are slower because the snowbirds have gone home and the locals are taking their summer vacations, Anderson said.

"They count on those three to four months to really carry them through the year."

Losing the winter tourist trade from Canada would have an economic impact, but like the residents of Palmetto Palms RV Park, Anderson doubts Trump will make good on his tariff threat.

"The president -- he's a negotiator," said Anderson. "I'm an optimist and I have to think this is all going to work out before it adversely affects Americans as well."

If the tariffs do go through? "Even if prices go up, it's not going to kill everything," Anderson believes.

Snowbirds have learned to be cautious when talking politics with their American friends, especially in the run-up to the election when emotions were running high.

Florida voted for Trump. Twice. The local Dairy Queen plays gospel music: "I remember where we were when you gave your life to Jesus," goes the chorus.

"We almost stopped talking to a couple we've been friends with for years," said Pierre Fortin, one eye on the hockey game at Hertz Arena in Fort Myers, where the Florida Everblades were losing badly to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. (The final score was 3-0).

"We still don't understand how anyone could vote for him," said Fortin, 69, a former database engineer from Ottawa.

In the next seat over, Canadian John Kraft, 87, said the tariffs announcement felt like more than an economic measure. It felt personal.

"It was like a slap in the face," he said.

On local radio and on television, the news is almost exclusively Trump, with Republicans unabashedly crowing victory. On Fox News, the new tagline is: "Right all along."

In between discussion panels about the latest astonishing Trump initiative, Ontario has placed ads promoting itself as America's partner in energy. They're meant to sound confident and proud, but somehow come off as pleading -- pick me.

Fort Myers is also a winter home for Americans who live in states with abundant snow and cold. Some seem personally embarrassed by the performance of their president -- a man they refer to as 45 and 47 -- to distinguish between his two presidencies.

At the Lucky Screw restaurant in Historic Fort Myers, Tom Smith sighed deeply when tariffs came up.

He and his wife, Jeanne Parsons, flee Minnesota in winter, which they are quick to point out is a blue state.

"Tariffs aren't good for anybody," he said, over $5 tacos and beer.

"It's a circular firing squad -- everyone is shooting at each other."

Few people know how tariffs might affect them personally. Smith expects to see it at the gas pump. Parsons points out that Trump supporters probably don't know either.

"I don't think everyone knows where all their goods and services come from," said Parsons, 71.

"Putting tariffs on something -- people think it's a one-way street. I think they'll be surprised."