BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Upstate businesses are more than familiar with the loonie, the toonie and the Canadian dollar.
"Many of the Canadians come because they like what we have to offer here in Western New York, in terms of shopping, restaurants, maybe a Bills game as well," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York.
Annually, Schumer said Canadians spend well over $1.5 billion in New York.
The Lewiston-Queenston Bridge represents one of three automobile entrances to Western New York from Canada. Schumer announced Tuesday a major facelift to the bridge, in part to ensure the money continues to flow south.
"They could wait an hour, two hours, three hours and they say the heck with it," Schumer said. "I won't spend the night here in Buffalo. I won't spend the weekend here. I don't want to sit and wait and wait and wait."
Schumer believes this will be a major economic booster, but even he admits the long wait time at bridges isn't the only issue keeping Canadian shoppers from spending their money in New York. Right now, the Canadian dollar is worth less than $0.70 USD.
"We all know that part of this is the dollar and the Canadian dollar and their relationship but part of it is also the congestion and we've heard it over and over again," he said.
"The exchange rate's part of it, but if you can only get certain items here in the United States, well, Canadians are going to come here if they want them," Fiscal Policy Institute Chairman Fred Floss said.
Floss doesn't believe long wait times or a struggling dollar, on their own, will keep people from crossing the border.
"I would expect by 2020 that the Canadian dollar will strengthen and we'll start to see more visitors and tourists come back to the United States and to Buffalo to shop," she said.
Floss said the creation of two additional commercial truck lanes, making six total, could have the biggest impact.
"For truck traffic, when they have a choice to decide whether or not to go through Detroit and Windsor versus here, this could have an important impact because most of the population in Canada are in the Toronto-Buffalo corridor," he said.
Floss said if trucks choose to go through Western New York instead of eastern Michigan, companies will choose to locate in New York, as well, positively affecting the entire state.