U.S. tariffs threat creates hometown pride

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Streets in Uxbridge's urban centre are now festooned with Canada flag banners in response to Donald Trump's threatened tariffs and his musings about annexing Canada.

The banners normally go up around the beginning of June to mark Canada Day on July 1, but the BIA (Business Improvement Area) decided to put the banners up last week. BIA chair Dana Middleton said the idea was "to show our national pride."

Middleton said councillor Willie Popp, council liaison on the BIA, fully supported the move. The action follows a similar move by Whitchurch-Stouffville, which put its Canada banners up a couple of weeks ago.

At the same time, the BIA has approved new banners to promote local businesses. Based on the original program, which saw banners encouraging people to "explore, shop, dine and savour" in Uxbridge, the new banners will drop the "dine" signs since they are too close to "savour" in meaning.

The new banners, designed by local artist Tracy Walker, likely will be going up around Canada Day.