The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Tory Leader Houston says N.S. not protecting border
It's unacceptable that Premier Stephen Mcneil waited until Friday to publicly address ongoing concerns with Americans entering the province and explaining how the government intends to ensure people coming from the Covid-plagued country follow self-isolating rules, says Tory Leader Tim Houston.
At Friday's media briefing, the premier looked to clarify his statements from the day before, when he said the province has never closed its border and that cars with American licence plates wouldn't be prevented from entering the province.
The premier opened the briefing pointing out that the U.S. border is closed to all non-essential travel but Canadian citizens in the U.S., including Nova Scotians, are entitled to return to their home country and not be turned away.
He said Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer of health, had a scheduled call with Canada Border Service Agency Friday afternoon to “better understand federal protocols around entering and isolation at the Canada-u.s. border.”
The premier said Americans entering Nova Scotia would be required to provide personal identification, an address for where they're residing in the province and their phone number. Mcneil said that information is being passed on to the RCMP, which are tasked with following up with visitors to ensure they are complying with the order to self-isolate for 14 days.
The premier said he wanted to set the record straight on the rules given people's growing concerns, especially on social media, that some American visitors weren't self-isolating.
“If this is true, it's not acceptable,” said Mcneil. “If you commit to self-isolate for 14 days, we expect you to keep your word.
“We will be ramping up our calls and check-ins to make sure you are where you said you would be and that you are indeed self-isolating.”
But Houston accused the premier of failing to adequately protect the province's border, claming no one “including Americans, have been denied entry, despite the fact that yesterday alone, the United States of America recorded over 50,000 Covid-19 cases.”
He claimed Mcneil was forced into cobbling together an inadequate border protection plan and only “after Nova Scotians flooded the premier's social media channels that he changed his mind.”
Cpl. Lisa Croteau, a spokewoman for the Nova Scotia RCMP, had said late Friday afternoon that the RCMP were monitoring American visitors and that the force had been provided a list of names from the province. But shortly after Croteau said she couldn't confirm where the force recieved the information. She also said it was too late in the day to provide any details on monitoring protocols being followed by police.
Houston said the province owes Nova Scotians a detailed plan of “who's coming here, where they are going, why and how we can find them if we need to.”
“Nova Scotians have worked very hard to flatten the curve.”
Elaine Gibson, a professor at Dalhousie University's Health Law Institute, also took issue with the premier's statement that the province has never closed its border. She said the premier's claim is untrue and that Mcneil needs to be very consistent in his message around border restrictions related to COVID19.
“I couldn't understand why he would make such a statement,” said Gibson. “For Pete's sake, we're not even letting people come in from other provinces in Canada without quarantining restrictions. It's not like we have open borders, it's not like we want open borders at the moment.”
The Atlantic bubble came into effect Friday, allowing Atlantic Canadian residents to travel within the four provinces without having to selfisolate for 14 days.
Meanwhile, Strang said on Friday that he's increasingly concerned by evidence of people becoming complacent in following proper public health protocols, including social distancing.
“If we're not careful we run the risk of having a resurgence of COVID-19,” he said.
“For Pete’s sake, we’re not even letting people come in from other provinces in Canada without quarantining restrictions.”
Elaine Gibson Professor, Dalhousie University