• 2.26.25
• General

Editorial: The Importance of Our Cross-Border Relationship

Below is an editorial written by Chamber President Garry Douglas for our Quebec-NY newsletter. While the intended audience was our neighbors in Quebec, we believe it’s important to share this message with our members as well. This editorial highlights the Chamber’s strong messaging and underscores the vital relationship between the North Country, Quebec, and Canada.

Recent Editorial

As we continue to navigate the now raucous U.S.-Canada trade landscape, I think of the core of the Hippocratic Oath which says: "First, do no harm." Or add to the harm already done.

The most important element of the connection between our two countries has never been government to government or economy to economy but the people-to-people relationship, always sustaining us through periods of discord and challenge. And so, we must value and reinforce this dynamic more than ever during this period.

Friend and colleague Laura Dawson, Executive Director of the Future Borders Coalition, a leading player in bi-national commerce and a Canadian, put it well in a recent column in Medium:

"We must take care to direct our frustrations in constructive ways.... If I may, rather than cancelling your trip to the U.S., I encourage you to take the trip and tell every American you meet about the importance of the relationship, not with anger but as a teachable moment because the Canadian story is not on the radar screen in the United States. Most Americans think of us positively, but their knowledge is pretty vague. There are a lot of other things going on in the U.S. right now to distract them. And, perhaps we as Canadians have taken the relationship for granted and have not pushed and promoted as much as we should have. Without person-to-person engagement across borders, combined with organized media campaigns, we are letting others control the message of what Canada is and does."

No place in the U.S. is more deeply and broadly intertwined with Canada in every respect than the greater Plattsburgh region of N.Y. We are squarely in the "Quebec business" in ways no other American border area can claim to be with their Canadian neighbors. We frequently proclaim that what is good for Quebec is good for us and what is bad is bad for us. Plattsburgh is called "Montreal's U.S. suburb" and our own North Country Chamber has been branded by Quebec leaders as Quebec's best friend in the U.S. Our fellow U.S. Chambers are perplexed when they learn how we work actively with Quebec Chambers to help Quebec companies export to and succeed in the U.S. market.

It is why we have been committed storytellers recently regarding the many negative impacts of any tariffs on Canada to our region — from manufacturing and logistics to energy, construction and agriculture. We are navigating these challenges together and need to value and enhance the vital people-to-people interaction.

Think about it, while we carry on in common cause — the Plattsburgh region and Quebec. North Country people and Quebecers.

Garry Douglas

President and CEO

North Country Chamber of Commerce