Republica Press

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REPUBLICA PRESS
Your Business & Political News Source

Canadian Snowbirds Find Refuge in Their Mythical Miami

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SAINT-AMBROISE, Quebec — In a retirement community north of Quebec City, 30-foot plastic palm trees overlook Miami, Orlando and Cocoa Avenues, cookie-cutter streets where residents glide by some days on snowshoes.

The pool area — complete with straw-covered umbrellas, a candy-colored inflatable children’s slide and a nearby tiki bar — evokes countless oceanside condos in Florida. Except for the snow, and temperatures that dipped this month to minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Domaine de la Florida, a Canadian make-believe Miami, whose 520 residents are so in love with the Sunshine State that they have recreated it here. In the summer, golf carts whisk silver-haired retirees to games of beach volleyball, shuffleboard and Bingo. In the winter, as many as half of them fire up their R.V.’s or hop into their cars or a plane, and head south for the real deal.

Le Soleil de la Floride, as well as a local ecosystem of Francophone real estate agents, accountants and dentists.

Even the unofficial Queen of Quebec, the singer Celine Dion, kept a 13-bedroom beachfront estate in Florida, with a private water park, before selling it in 2017 for a reported $28 million.

Before the pandemic, an estimated one million Canadian residents spent their winters in the United States; at least 500,000 of them were Quebec snowbirds who traveled to Florida, according to the Canadian Snowbird Association, a group that advises snowbirds on matters like insurance.

half a dozen restaurants offering poutine, the zipper-bursting Quebecois delicacy of French fries, cheese curds and gravy.

But this year, the closure of the land border with the United States and fears of catching the virus deterred many of Quebec’s snowbirds from the annual pilgrimage. Florida has had more than 1.96 million cases of Covid-19 compared with 922,848 in all of Canada.

And while it is still possible to take quick flights from Montreal to Miami — a more expensive option than driving — some residents of Domaine de la Florida said they were repelled by rules requiring them to quarantine for 14 days after flying home to Canada. That would include spending three days in a designated hotel at a cost of about $2,000 Canadian dollars, or about $1,600.

Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. The region is proud and picturesque, surrounded by mountains and famed for its aluminum and forest industries.

Mr. Bouchard, who owns an RV dealership across the street, said about half of the Domaine’s residents were snowbirds.

His faux Florida took root about a decade ago when he noticed how many Quebecers spent their winters in Miami. To reproduce Florida’s tropical sensibility, he said he “planted” dozens of plastic palm trees each year — imported from China. The largest cost about 5,000 Canadian dollars, or about $4,000, each.

Florida. Part of the appeal was the possibility of getting vaccinated against the coronavirus at a time when Canada’s vaccination rate has been lagging other countries, including that of the United States.

Perhaps predictably, there was a backlash against Canadian vaccine tourists on social media.

Century Village East, a condominium complex in Deerfield Beach where about half of the more than 8,000 condominiums are owned by Canadian snowbirds. Mr. Roboz, who has a lung ailment, said that after arriving in Florida in January, he had been vaccinated within 48 hours.

“This is my life we are talking about,” he said, explaining his rationale for traveling. He said vaccinating Canadian residents in Florida, big contributors to the local economy, was a public health imperative.

Real Vachon, 60, a resident of Domaine de la Florida, recently traveled to Fort Lauderdale to join his wife, Linda, and their French bulldog, Daisy. He said getting vaccinated had been a draw, along with the opportunity to pass the days lolling at their Florida home’s outdoor spa, surrounded by real palm trees, sans frostbite.

He and his wife are planning to depart Florida by the end of April for home. That should be just in time to see the plastic palm trees “bloom.”

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