Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Churchill to first family: We'd love to see you here
A bear gets up close and personal with tourists on a tundra buggy used for sightseeing in Churchill. (JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)
Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia (second from left) and Sasha. (ANNIE LEIBOVITZ / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Businesses in Churchill say they'll roll out the red carpet -- and the tundra buggy -- if the most famous kids in the world want to come and see the polar bears.
"That would be kind of big," Belinda Fitzpatrick, co-owner of the Tundra Inn in Churchill, said Thursday after U.S. President Barack Obama's daughters, Sasha, 8, and Malia, 11, were invited to the polar bear capital of the world.
On Wednesday in Washington, D.C., ambassador Gary Doer and his family met with Obama and invited his daughters to Manitoba to see Churchill's polar bears.
"We're holding a tundra buggy for him and waiting for his phone call," said Lynda Gunter, whose family owns Frontiers North, which runs tundra buggy tours.
She said the first family is more than welcome.
Whether or not the daughters of the U.S. president get to Churchill, news coverage of the Doers' invitation is good for tourism.
"I think it's pretty cool for Manitoba to get that kind of exposure," said Gunter.
"Manitoba has so much to offer -- people in other parts of the country don't realize that."
But they're starting to, said Churchill's chief administrative officer.
"Polar bear season is incredibly popular," said Albert Meijering. It's the peak of the season right now, with tourists flocking to the tundra in special vehicles called tundra buggies.
A recent Destination Churchill study showed a decrease in international travellers and more Canadians visiting Churchill, he said.
As premier of Manitoba, Doer lured a number of high-profile visitors to the northern town on Hudson Bay, including former U.S. ambassador to Canada David Wilkins, Janet Napolitano, who is now Obama's secretary of homeland security, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The polar bears, however, do the lion's share of promoting tourism.
U.K. actor Ewan McGregor hosted a PBS documentary called The Polar Bears of Churchill.
Obama's daughters would be the most famous visitors since the Queen, said Meijering, who isn't holding his breath.
"We haven't heard anything official as yet."
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 6, 2009 A5
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