Niagara Falls mayor talks tourism, border protests

Time to check in with Niagara Falls mayor Jim Diodati to see how the city is doing.

Diodati says the city was very business the for the weekend before Valentine’s Day.

“It was a really exciting weekend to have people coming back again, enjoying themselves, smiling, it felt normal,” said Diodati. “It was a beautiful way to open up this coming weekend for Family Day weekend.”

Vaccine passports have been dropped this week. Diodati says this is important for local businesses

“[The casinos] are just so excited,” said Diodati. “They are the number on employer in the region.”

Diodati says he has regular calls with all the border city mayors and they are all expecting border announcement coming from the federal government in regard to the requirement for PCR testing at the border.

“We’re expecting an announcement to be coming any day and we’re looking forward to it,” said Diodati. “50 per cent of revenue that comes into Niagara Falls comes from the U.S. and that has literally been shut down.”

Diodati says he commends the police officers handling the protests going on at the borders near Niagara Falls.

“Coming into the tourism season the last thing we need is problems at the border,” said Diodati.