MAUI — The beach isn’t deserted, nor is the swimming pool. But the reality of what’s missing here in Hawaii is blatantly obvious. Given that tourism is this state’s largest industry, the damage is seen in closed shops and restaurants, and the absence of friends.

It is the latter that drives home the damage done to North American relations. While a majority of Eastern Canadians escape winter in Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida — the only other state boasting a tropical climate — we Westerners escape to Hawaii. Sadly, not many of us anymore.

On Maui, COVID and its restrictions — coupled with the wildfire that decimated Lahaina in 2023 — was a one-two punch. The knockout blow came with the U.S. president’s fit directed at Canada, and his outrageous and blatant assertions that Canada should become the 51st state.

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That launched the “elbows up” movement, which has resonated across the country.

The movement has manifested itself in many ways, but what is obvious is its effect on the tourism industry. Many Canadians — obviously not me — are quietly making their feelings known and their money felt. There are many reasons for my decision, none of which are particularly relevant, except maybe to come and honour the Hawaiian canoe ceremony to disperse the ashes of a dear friend’s late wife.

To offset our “guilt” about being on U.S. soil, we joke about taking back Hawaii from the Americans, who overthrew the monarchy in 1893.

Embracing this paradise, we would have Canadian dollars at par, subsidized health care and a tropical territory to go hand in hand with the north. Just a joke, because we wouldn’t recognize the opportunity.

We are, after all, the country that refused to take on Turks and Caicos when those islands suggested joining us. Not once, not twice, but on several occasions, going back to 1917 and prime minister Robert Borden. Clearly, we can’t recognize a good thing.

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Much has been written about the effects of others’ decisions not to be snowbirds. But reading about the decline of Canadian tourism to the United States is one thing — to experience it in person is another.

Friends who should be here this month are absent, and the crowd of Americans from the northwest states will start conversations with an apology, and the words used to describe their president aren’t printable.

I group them in with the MAGA crowd for the simple reason that he is supposed to be the president for all Americans, not just those who voted for him. They may object to my insistence that the American public voted for him, so it’s everyone’s burden and no one escapes culpability, but I understand the worry and, conversely, the pleasure that he is “doing something” about America’s so-called “problem” with what they refer to as “illegal aliens.”

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It has not escaped notice that the most “American” of provinces — Alberta — is singing from the same songbook. That this rhetoric is costing the United States money, status and friends seems obvious. A USA Today headline captured it all: “Canadians promised to boycott travel to U.S. They meant it.”

Vancouver friends who have been coming to this resort for more years than I can remember write simply: “We will not be . . . anywhere across the 49th while the present administration is in charge. We miss (everyone) for sure, by not being in the U.S. We are part of the 41 per cent of Canadians who are skipping Hawaii this year. Just can’t do it. We are going to a Club Med in Cancun.”

The country has taken a hit of $4.5 billion with a 22 per cent decline in Canadian tourism, and sustained irreparable damage to its standing around the world.

Meanwhile, Calgary’s airport bucks the trend. Statistics Canada reports a general decline of around six per cent in Americans arriving in Canada by air, but a 29 per cent increase for YYC.

Catherine Ford is a regular columnist.

© Calgary Herald