"Go home, Canadian!": Snowbird couple parting ways with US amid political climate

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After 15 years of spending their winters in Florida, a snowbird couple say they are ready to fly home for good.   The husband and wife from New Brunswick say growing anti-Canadian sentiment and looming legislative changes contributed to their decision to leave the snowbird life behind.   Global’s Suzanne Lapointe reports.  For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/11071153/canada-snowbirds-us-registration/  Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ Follow Global News on X HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB #GlobalNews #Snowbirds #US #Canada #Retirement

Transcript

00:00As the snow begins to melt and the days get longer,

00:03many Canadians wintering in the U.S. are making plans to come home.

00:06For Mike and Mary-Anne Jeffries, it's going to be a one-way ticket,

00:09after they say what seemed like joking banter about Canada becoming the 51st state

00:14has morphed into visceral tensions between neighbours.

00:17The language that's being touted around politically here is somewhat frightening,

00:23not just as Canadians, but for what you see happening in the community

00:28that you've come to love.

00:30While they say some of their American friends are supportive of Canadians

00:34and apologetic about what's going on, it's getting harder and harder to ignore.

00:38We have an incident here where we had a Canadian friend of ours who was attending

00:43one of the classes that we hold at our schoolhouse, and somebody yelled out,

00:47go home, Canadian.

00:49Because of the protecting the American people from invasion order

00:52that President Donald Trump signed in late January,

00:55the Jeffries will now be required to register with the American government

00:59if they stay in the country for more than a month.

01:01That new legislation is expected to come into effect in mid-April.

01:05The package that it was set in and the language that was being used,

01:10where we're talking about the invasion of the country and aliens in their country,

01:15that kind of language leads to a mindset that says that it's okay

01:21to behave in a certain way against those people.

01:23Jeffries says this has all contributed to their decision not to return

01:27after they leave at the end of March,

01:29ending a 15-year tradition of coming each winter to Florida.

01:32It remains to be seen whether the estimated one million snowbirds in the U.S. will follow suit.

01:37Suzanne Lapointe, Global News, Moncton.

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