Montreal is ditching U.S. travel fast but other Canadian cities are hardly making changes

Fewer Canadians are heading south of the border, and Montreal is leading the slowdown.

According to a new Statistics Canada report published on June 2, 2025, travel between Canada and the U.S. continued to decline in April, marking the fifth consecutive month of reduced transborder traffic.

The drop comes as economic and political tensions between Canada and the U.S. remain high. A March Leger poll cited by MTL Blog found that 69% of Quebecers have reduced their purchases of American-made goods in response to tariffs and the ongoing trade dispute. On top of that, the Canadian dollar is sitting around US$0.73 — significantly weaker than the $0.83 it hovered near in June 2021 — making U.S. travel more expensive for Canadians.

The Canadian government has also issued warnings to travellers about ramped-up U.S. border scrutiny — including a new policy that limits foreign stays to 30 days unless you're officially registered with the U.S. government.

At Montreal-Trudeau Airport, the number of passengers screened for U.S.-bound flights fell by 10.1% compared to April 2024. That was one of the steepest year-over-year declines reported among Canada's eight largest airports. For comparison, Toronto Pearson was down 6.9%, Vancouver International dropped 4.1%, and Ottawa International fell by just 0.9%.

Overall, Canadian airports saw 5.8% fewer U.S.-bound screenings in April 2025 than they did a year earlier.

Meanwhile, domestic and international travel continued to grow. StatCan reports that domestic screening numbers increased 7.4%, and international (non-U.S.) flights rose 7.1%. That means while travel is booming overall, U.S.-bound trips are the clear exception.

The total number of passengers screened at Canada's eight largest airports hit 5.5 million in April, which is 2.6% higher than in April 2024. The busiest day of the month was Friday, April 26, with over 211,000 passengers screened.

Here's how other major airports compared for U.S.-bound screenings:

• Halifax Stanfield: down 7.2%
• Calgary International: down 6.5%
• Winnipeg Richardson: down 2.4%
• Edmonton International: down 0.6%

So while Canadians are flying more overall, they're clearly flying south a lot less. And nowhere is that trend more obvious than in Montreal.

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