Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas said he had a "cordial" and "productive" meeting with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz during a visit to Washington D.C., as part of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.
Mrakas was in the American capital March 4 to 7 to participate in the initiative’s annual Great Lakes Day, alongside more than 30 U.S. and Canadian mayors, First Nations leaders, and other local government officials. Mrakas was appointed York Region's representative for the group in October 2023.
Mrakas said discussions with American mayors, members of Congress and the U.S. Senate were focused on two key issues, funding uncertainty for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the economic threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.
In a social media post, Mrakas shared a photograph of himself with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, which garnered some criticism at home.
“Listen, if you want to get your message across to decision-makers, regardless of whether they are Republican, Democrat, or even on the Canadian-side, Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green, the Bloc, you need to sit down with all of them,” said Mrakas in an interview with AuroraToday.
“You need to have tough but congenial conversations, and that's how you build support and make progress,” he added. “At the end of the day, this trip was about advocating for Aurora and Canada, and I make no apologies for using every opportunity to fight for and get the point across about what is going on, what these tariffs are doing to Ontario, to our community, to Canada, and as I said, and as I mentioned, we will not sit idly by.”
Mrakas said his conversation with Cruz “was cordial, productive, and focused on free trade” and issues that impact workers. Those economic impact conversations were well received during meetings with other U.S. officials, added Mrakas, including mayors in Great Lake states.
“They're from areas that are specifically surrounding the Great Lakes and they fully understand the impact that they're going to be dealing with on the U.S. side, as well,” said Mrakas. “The tariffs by the U.S. will be harmful on both sides of the border, and we made it clear that protecting free trade is in everyone's best interest.”
“We did hear from the senators and the congressional lawmakers that they recognize that these tariffs are damaging within even their own borders, and they recognize the importance of unfettered trade with Canada,” he said. “We continue to reinforce that Canada has a united front right now on all levels of government, and we're working together to protect our economy — and they understand that.”
The Great Lakes initiative was founded in 2003 by mayors Richard M. Daley of Chicago and David Miller of Toronto. It has expanded to include over 120 member municipalities of all sizes from around North America. According to a news release, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Region is the "third largest economy in the world, producing $6 trillion USD in annual economic output."
“I think that ultimately it comes down to, as the premier has stated many times, is that this is something that's coming from one person, the president," added Mrakas. "I think that that's important for everyone to understand.”
Newly re-elected Premier Doug Ford imposed a surcharge of 25 per cent on electricity exported to the United States on Monday. The electricity goes to 1.5 million homes in three U.S. states. The surcharge went into effect yesterday and the government says it could raise that amount even higher in response to further American escalation.