Trudeau: Hotel quarantine not meant to be punitive

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government isn’t aiming to punish international air travellers by requiring them to spend up to three days in a hotel quarantine when returning to Canada at their own expense.

As concerns rise around COVID-19 variants that make it more transmissible, Trudeau and other government ministers spent Friday outlining a series of new border measures meant to crack down on nonessential travellers.

Trudeau said Canada now has “some of the strongest measures in the world” on its borders. He said the new rule for air travellers, which takes effect Feb. 22, is the only way the government can ensure travellers aren’t spreading the virus while waiting for a PCR test result (a lab-based polymerase chain reaction test).

“We’re aware that we need to be thoughtful and compassionate about people who are in extremely difficult situations and absolutely need to travel,” Trudeau said at a Friday news conference. “We’re not trying to punish people. We’re trying to keep people safe … and discouraging all non-essential travel and ensuring that if people do have to travel, they’re doing the things that we can be certain are going to prevent the virus from spreading further in Canada, particularly given new variants.”

Trudeau said only a PCR test ensures the traveller does not have even a small amount of virus in them; a rapid test isn’t accurate enough for this purpose.

“That PCR test, particularly if there are significant numbers of travellers, could take two or three days to get a result,” he said. “As soon as they get the result of that PCR test, they will be free to go home and quarantine themselves. It’s not a punitive measure to keep people in quarantine for three days while they get the result, it’s just so that we can get a negative result off of that test.”

Only four airports are accepting international flights under the new rules: Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Vancouver. Travellers must also already have a 14-day plan to quarantine after arriving, and must take another PCR test at the end of it.

Being vaccinated will not exempt an air traveller from the mandatory hotel quarantine, said Health Minister Patty Hajdu.

“We know that vaccination prevents against serious illness and protects against death associated with COVID-19,” she said. “But the research is still developing and emerging around the reduction of infectiousness for people that may contract COVID-19 despite being vaccinated and despite having a less severe case.”

The mandatory hotel quarantine will cost a traveller up to $2,000, but Hajdu said the billing may be adjusted based on the circumstances, such as when a traveller is able to leave early due to getting a nConservative MPs Michelle Rempel Garner and Pierre Paul-Hus called on the Liberals to allow exemptions to the mandatory hotel stay for unaccompanied minors and for Canadians travelling for nonelective medical procedures, family reunification, and for “compassionate travel for those affected by end-of-life or medical emergencies.”

Travellers in those categories should be allowed “to quarantine at home, in compliance with pre- and postarrival testing requirements,” they said in a joint statement.