‘Stronger measures’ coming at border: PM
SCREENING WILL BE INCREASED AT CANADA-U.S. BORDER
The federal government is planning stronger measures to deal with a looming influx of people arriving from the United States, a clear sign Canada is bracing for the realities of life after lockdown while living next door to the world‘s largest COVID-19 hotspot.
The gradual reopening of businesses and easing of mobility restrictions in both countries will likely mean an increase in cross-border traffic, and with it the need for additional steps to ensure new arrivals are adhering to selfisolation protocols, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
“We are looking at stronger measures to make sure that we’re following up appropriately on people who come over,” Trudeau said during his daily briefing outside his Rideau Cottage residence.
“As economic activity starts to ramp up, as restrictions get loosened across countries, it is likely that we see either a few more people returning home or a few more people trying to cross the border, and we need to make sure that the measures we bring forward are going to keep Canadians safe.”
The mutual bilateral ban on non-essential travel, an agreement that initially went into effect in March and was extended by an additional 30 days last month, is now scheduled to expire May 21. Trudeau would not say whether he expects the restrictions to be extended a second time.
Provincial leaders, in particular Ontario’s Doug Ford, have made it clear they don’t want visitors from the U.S., currently home to more than a million active cases of COVID19. To date, the disease has killed more than 82,000 Americans, the highest death toll in any single country.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile — trying to get reelected in November on the heels of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression — has been aggressively lobbying states to get residents back to work and refire the country’s economic engines.
The government’s recent rhetoric on the border, combined with a rare public acknowledgment Tuesday from the U.S. State
Department of the continuing co-operation across North America, suggests the ongoing talks may have moved into a new phase.
“The United States appreciates Canada’s close and constant co-operation regarding the management of the border during this unprecedented crisis,” acting U.S. ambassador to Canada Richard Mills said in an unsolicited statement Tuesday.
Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun has been hosting weekly calls with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts since March 19 “to share best practices in responding to the unique and complex challenges presented by the global pandemic and planning for safely reopening our economies and commerce,” the State Department said.
Deciding what to do about the border is not only a matter of assessing the overall threat from the U.S., but also ensuring that the ability to test, track, isolate and quarantine is in place to properly deal with new arrivals, said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public officer of health.
“It is something we will have to watch really carefully so that it is not an issue that’s going to overwhelm our public health capacity,” said Tam, who urged “extreme caution” in deciding when and how to begin lifting travel restrictions.