… The mayor of Niagara Falls, Jim Diodati, said his city is proud to open its doors to other Canadians in their time of need. But he also said he’s frustrated no one from the federal government told him such an unprecedented influx of evacuees would arrive at the beginning of peak tourist season.
Niagara Falls, with its large stock of hotel rooms, is already hosting around 1,500 refugee claimants – who rely on social services, soup kitchens, food banks and local charities – under a temporary hotel housing system designed by Ottawa at a cost of $208 a day per person. There’s little economic benefit except for hotel owners in a town that has been built around tourism, he said.
