Clipping the Snowbird's Wings

In the coming month, we Canucks observe an annual ritual that will put many millions of dollars into the hands of our neighbours to the south. Thousands observe this tradition, packing up their SUV’s and their passports, kissing their grandchildren goodbye and head for the border.

Montreal Gazette columnist Andy Nulman captured, tongue-in-cheek, the downside of the snowbird migrations: "It's mid-November. Listen closely. It's starting once again. That distinct sucking sound you hear is the whoosh of hundreds of thousands of Canadians--"snowbirds" they're called - making their annual southward migration for the winter... While we're stuck here pulling on woolies and putting on snow tires to navigate sand-strewn sidewalks and salted roads, snowbirds are squeezing spare tires into Speedos to navigate sandy beaches and saltwater waves down south. More than mere objects of ridicule, they've become extreme Enemies of the State."

While I don’t particularly believe snowbirds are “Enemies of the State”, (seeing how my parents are one of them, that may be incredibly unwise on my part) I do believe that Windsor is missing out on a big opportunity.

The Canadian Snowbird Association, a lobby group established to represent migrants' interests to provincial and federal governments, claims that some 800,000 Canadians spend at least one month a year in the South. That’s a lot of people and their quid leaving us to fight the cold weather on their behalf. I don’t begrudge these folks for seeking something they’re missing in their golden years. Most of these people led hard working lives and really deserve to enjoy their golden years how they want to. I just want to find out what Windsor could do to keep some of these folks at home in their community.

I know what you’re saying – it’s the weather, stupid! Granted, if Florida (or Texas, Mexico, etc.) didn’t have that hot, sunny weather they wouldn’t be getting the retirees flocking to their doorsteps every year. I agree with you. Yet, there’s a part of me that believes that there’s another reason. A reason that if absent from the equation would make their annual pilgrimage a lot less desirable.

Like I mentioned, my parents are part of the “Snowbird” phenomenon, so I have access to first-hand accounts of what goes on during the winter months at these retirement Shangri las. My parents, Jerry and Helen, are incredibly social people. Rarely do you ever catch them at home – ever! They are always out with friends and family, enjoying dining, boating, walking and biking and just plain lazing around socializing. It’s a good life, and I am very thankful that they are able to do just that. They’ve earned it. When they pack up their vehicle to head south, dozens of their friends are doing the exact same thing. In fact, their whole circle of friends packs at the same time, takes the same roads to land in the same communities in Florida, to unpack and continue the exact same life they led back home in Canada – uninterrupted.

Yes, the weather is one of the prime motivators for this trek. But I would like to add another reason to the mix. Winter isolation. The winter comes to town and we all put on the storm windows and lock down for the season, only to re-emerge with the robins in the spring. Windsor cannot change this. We’re a Canadian city and we get cold. That’s what makes us Canadian. However, I believe that if we took the social environment out of the Snowbirds winter plans, they would seriously re-evaluate their desire to flee south. If these Snowbirds, who generally live in segregated, affluent suburban developments that are relatively easy to navigate in the summer months, were offered a choice to live in vibrant, walkable, pedestrian-friendly communities where their social lives continued unhampered throughout the year, many would choose not to uproot and instead stay home with their family and friends who are just as easily accessible as they are in the summer months.

This isn’t just a gut-feeling on my part. I look at some of the most-visited vacation destinations in the world and the thing they all offer is a socially rich environment where most of life’s conveniences are within an easy walk from their doorsteps. The people who live in these communities – mostly in older, established European countries – do not feel the need to run away to the sunny south every winter. Their lives are equally rich in the winter months as there are in the summer – only with a few extra layers of clothes on.

This is something that we can compete with here in Windsor. And in building a community that people don’t want to run away from every year, we not only keep the snowbirds in their communities where they belong, but we also enrich the lives of those who may not be able to afford to head south for the winters. True, the travel agents wouldn’t like it very much. They make a pretty good living off of the fact that we’ve built up an inhospitable daily environment and come to them to save our sanity by whisking us away somewhere nice. Well, I want Windsor to be that “somewhere nice” place that not only do we not want to flee, but maybe others will want to flee to.

Yes, it’s a dream, but a dream that’s completely within our control. The weather, on the other hand, is not.