Who Said That?

"We lost more Europeans but we got more Canadians."

If he could, he surely would. Jacques Belair, a Montreal native, would live the rest of his life in South Florida.

"This is paradise,'' he said without hesitation from his Deerfield Beach condominium.

He's certainly not alone in making the trek south from Canada for the winter. As the February peak period for snowbird arrivals nears, South Florida is getting a bigger-than-usual boost from visitors leaving the cold behind, bank and tourism executives said.

More Canadians are heading south because of a "perfect storm.'' Canadian baby boomers can find great real estate deals in Florida and the strong Canadian dollar buys more in the U.S. than it could in recent years, said Alain Forget, RBC Bank's head of sales and business development. They're buying homes, enjoying the beach, having nice meals.

Read more at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.