The Last Show with David Cooper
Mayor Jim Diodati & Emily Pogue: Tense US-Canada Waterfall Relations - January 12, 2026
13 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What sparked the conversation about US-Canada waterfall relations?
You work hard to strike the right amount of intelligence and ignorance. The Last Show with David Cooper. I am here with travel writer Emily Pogue, who's American. And before I get into it, Emily, welcome to the show.
Thanks so much for having me.
All right. Emily went to Niagara Falls and somehow lived to tell the tale and write about it. And in her article, she said she has a favorite side, the American one. And this has caused a full-scale international incident. Canadians are furious. Americans are smug. Everyone is yelling... Okay, no such incident happened, but maybe after this interview it will.
I am here with the mayor of Niagara Falls, the Canadian side, Jim Diodati. Jim, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, David. Let's start with Emily. You wrote that the American side is your favorite. Mayor Diodati is sitting right here. Do you want to formally apologize right now or do you want to double down?
Oh, I loved both sides equally. You know, there's a lot on both sides. The Canadian side was beautiful. It had its perks. But the American side just had a few things I didn't expect. That's why it took a little bit of a front run in my eyes. But I loved them both.
But what you wrote, Emily, is that the Canadian side is, quote, a little gimmicky. Now, Mayor, when you hear a travel writer say something about your town that is so negative, so incendiary, what's your gut reaction?
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Chapter 2: Why does Emily Pogue prefer the American side of Niagara Falls?
I say as long as they say Niagara Falls, we win. Every time they say Niagara falls, we went and, and, you know, of course I say we offer a buffet of fun and excitement. There's so much to do here. I mean, we've got great beaches along Lake Erie, golf courses. We've got 200 wineries. We 90% of, of Canada's ice wine is prepared right here. 80% of the world's ice wine is made here.
And of course, casinos and attractions, and don't forget about the water going over the rock, the falls.
Canadian ice wine is just regular wine with maple syrup added to it. Is my understanding correct on that one?
Well, yeah, with a twist.
All right. Well, Emily said the best views, where could they be found?
Oh, that was the Canadian side.
Hands down. And this is what I say. You know, mayor of Niagara Falls, New York is a very good friend of mine. Mary Stano is a great guy. And we always joke. I go, you have the falls, but we get to look at the falls. So it gives us a huge advantage. And we're grateful. And I always say, David, we're one city divided by a river.
I mean, Niagara Falls, most people don't realize there are two Niagara Falls. In fact, when I travel and I've done a lot of traveling and especially when I'm in the U.S. traveling, people will say, aren't you Canadian? I say, yeah. Well, how can you be the mayor of Niagara Falls? I have to explain. There's Niagara Falls, Canada. There's Niagara Falls, USA.
Most people don't realize until they get here.
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Chapter 3: How does Mayor Jim Diodati respond to criticism of the Canadian side?
They're both American owned. Uh, but it's great. There is no better. If, if someone came here and they said, listen, I've only got an hour. I can only, I only have enough money to do one attraction. I'd say, take the boat. You go right up to the falls. You're up close and personal. You can get wet if you want to, or you can stay inside.
But to me, the full experience, and I've talked to people from all over the world. They're like, one day before I die, I have to get to Niagara Falls. But I've seen pictures and videos. I said, that's like saying I saw a picture or video of a steak versus biting into it. A very different experience to be there, to see that full cresting rainbow, see the awe, the power of the falls, feel the mist.
There's something about it. It's... one of the great natural iconic attractions of this beautiful planet.
Let's talk about the Rainbow Bridge, which lets us really experience both sides together, as long as you got a passport. I was today years old when I realized the phrase, my pet crossing over the Rainbow Bridge, didn't just mean some pet owners that owned a pet crossing the bridge at Niagara Falls.
When I was a kid, I'd hear that phrase and I'm like, oh, why are people bringing their dogs and cats to Niagara Falls? I'm totally derailing here, but the bridge, tell me about it. I've only ever, you know, sped across it in my car and not really slowed down to enjoy it.
So it connects Niagara Falls, New York to Niagara Falls, Ontario. And it's a very popular busy bridge. And once a year, we shut it down for a tug of war. We have the international tug of war between our police services on both sides of the border.
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Chapter 4: What unique attractions does Niagara Falls, Canada offer?
And we have the men and then we have the women. And this past year in 2025, it was the Americans who won two out of three. And, uh, last two years ago, it was the Canadians who won. So it's a seesaw battle back and forth. The mayor will be there. Uh, there'll be a number of other politicians.
We cheer on our teams, but the best part when it's all done, we all get together for a big group picture and really it's all about coming together. So we meet on the rainbow bridge.
I got to ask a hard hitting question. It's not going to be that hard hitting. But in a time where if you watch the news, countries aren't getting along and such, I won't get into specifics. Can we learn anything about the mayor, the mayor's office of New York and the mayor's office in Ontario getting along?
Oh, we get along terrifically. We'll call each other. We write each other Christmas cards. We'll phone when we need something. We got family in the area. Mary Stano's got family here in Niagara Falls, Canada. I've got family in Niagara Falls, USA, and Depew, and Poughkeepsie, and all over the USA. So we get along fantastic. We're good friends.
And we know what happens to one side affects the other. So we want both sides to be good, reputationally and otherwise. We get along great. That's the thing. When you hear rhetoric from the federal representatives talking about things along this border, I'm part of an association of all cross-border mayors and our counterparts in the U.S., We get along fantastic. It's like brothers and sisters.
My best friend lives in Buffalo in Orchard Park. We go for dinner regularly. Our kids grew up together. It's nothing like, I know sometimes the media likes to play it up like it's adversarial. It's not at all. We're back and forth all the time. There's U.S. plates all over town. They go to our supermarkets and vice versa.
I don't know. Emily's pretty adversarial seeming. She was totally trashing the Canadian side.
Totally.
You can read Emily Pogue's article in Business Insider. It is cold. I visited Niagara Falls on the American and Canadian sides. Both sides had perks, but I still had a favorite. Emily, thank you for allowing me to try to create controversy that wasn't there and sharing details of your trip with us.
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