Trudeau promises ‘stronger measures’

WASHINGTON • 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 hot spot.

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 self-isolation 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., home to more than a million active cases of COVID-19. The disease has killed more than 82,000 Americans, the highest death toll in any single country.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, 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.

Ongoing talks between Canada and the U.S., on the border and other matters of mutual interest, have been positive and constructive, Trudeau said. But whatever the outcome, it will be governed in Canada by an abundance of caution, he added.

“Preventing transmission from outside of Canada into Canada, once we have controlled the spread within Canada, will be an essential part of ensuring that we don’t fall back into a second wave that could be as serious as this wave we’re going through, or even more so,” Trudeau said.