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A retirement community in Port Charlotte, on the west coast of Florida, has its Canadian patriotism fiercely on display.
Within the Maple Leaf Golf and Country Club, a 115-hectare park created in 1977, a Toronto Blue Jays flag flies outside one house, while another property has a garden statue of a dog wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey.
Its streets, such as Niagara Crescent, pay homage to well-known Canadian communities. Golf carts zipping around the gated community sport license plates from Saskatchewan, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.
The park began by bringing Canadians down on junkets. Now, it is a place where Americans and Canucks co-exist side by side: according to numbers Maple Leaf provided, Canadians own about 40 per cent of its 1,112 homes.
Support for Canadian sports teams dot the gated community in western Florida. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
“Canadians created this park and it’s always been a collaboration between both of us,” said Robyn Thomas, a resident and realtor at Maple Leaf.
“That’s what makes this park so special.”
The number of passenger vehicles crossing the U.S.-Canada border, from January to October, dropped by almost 20 per cent compared to the same span in 2024, according to a recent report prepared by the Democrat minority of the U.S. Congress’s joint economic committee.
Robyn Thomas is a realtor and resident at Maple Leaf Golf and Country Club. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
Amid a tariff war and perceived threats of annexation, some Canadian snowbirds have opted to avoid the United States.
Yet, people continue to flock south to Maple Leaf.
Jeff Papiez, who is on the park’s board of directors, is among them. He has been travelling to the community for 31 years — initially to visit his husband’s parents, then later as a retiree who makes the journey seasonally from Minden, Ont., a community about 140 kilometres northeast of Toronto.
American and Canadian flags fly inside the Maple Leaf Golf and Country Club in Port Charlotte, Fla. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
“It is a topic of discussion, but it doesn’t override the reasons and rationale of why they’re here,” Papiez said, when asked about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump, the trade war and the U.S. government’s 51st state comments.
“They are concerned in watching what’s happening, because when there is that uncertainty, there is a little discomfort in that.”
Despite some snowbirds looking elsewhere, Papiez believes park residents are still flocking to the community because of the bonds forged between neighbours, the location and the activities, which range from pickleball, to golf, to swimming.
Silvio Conte of Gananoque, Ont., a town about 265 kilometres east of Toronto, bought his Maple Leaf home in 2020, and spends roughly half the year in Florida.
Silvio Conte said he is not going to let one individual, U.S. President Donald Trump, dictate how he enjoys his retirement. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
He told CBC News that he and his wife took extra precautions during their recent drive south, after they had heard stories of people identified as Canadians having their vehicles targeted.
After crossing the border this time, he said they took off their front license plate and reverse parked when they stopped.
“I don’t want the extra aggravation,” Conte said.
One of his neighbours in the park has been trying to sell because of politics, he said. But Conte is staying put, because he will not let one person — Trump — dictate how he spends his retirement.
Street signs inside the retirement community pay homage to well-known Canadian communities. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
He has found other ways to be patriotic, he said, including travelling to Florida with supplies he and his wife would normally have bought once they arrived.
“We’ll put the money back into Canada as opposed to the States,” Conte said.
But he feels snowbirds shouldn’t overreact, saying Trump will only be in office for a few more years and things will, at some point, return to normal.
Residents in the community can enjoy a variety of activities, including swimming, golf and pickleball. (Kory Siegers/CBC)
On top of that, he said the strain in Canada-U.S. relations hasn’t made a difference among the Maple Leaf residents.
“All the old people, old friendships are all coming back down here. We’re all reconnecting. We’re all looking forward to a good season,” he said.
