Mayor Jim Diodati & Emily Pogue: Tense US-Canada Waterfall Relations - January 12, 2026
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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?
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.
Well, there's kind of an opposite role, at least stereotypically, going on with the Canadian side being kind of more, you know, bustling, maybe a little gimmicky, a lot of fun stuff to do. And Emily, you're right, the U.S. side is more peaceful and serene and uncrowded. Aren't Canadians supposed to be the polite ones, the serene ones, the peaceful ones here?
Well, you know what? We love our brothers and our sisters on the American side. We rolled the red carpet. A lot of my family's American. We spend a lot of the time in the US and I grew up on a border town back in the day when you didn't even need ID to cross the border. And we just shoot across to visit my aunt or we go across to get some chicken wings and pizza. One of the things Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York are famous for. We go to Sabres games and we're all Bills fans here. So we feel a lot of community between the two areas we just see it as niagara falls so we're grateful and you know what anything that happens to one side is good for the other and vice versa so if you're saying niagara falls if you like niagara falls new york better i love it because it's good it's niagara falls i'm not getting the controversy war and fighting that i was hoping for emily you're not a controversial figure on this one you really did like both sides didn't you
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What sparked the conversation about US-Canada waterfall relations?
0:05–1:41
2
Why does Emily Pogue prefer the American side of Niagara Falls?
1:41–5:12
3
How does Mayor Jim Diodati respond to criticism of the Canadian side?
5:12–6:39
4
What unique attractions does Niagara Falls, Canada offer?
6:39–10:03
Speakers
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