The travel conundrum
Stay home.
Non-essential travel is strongly discouraged. But here's a cheap flight to Cancun that's just too good to pass up.
Travellers are required to quarantine for 14 days upon their return. But (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) no one is really keeping tabs on cheaters.
This, in a nutshell, sums up the mixed messaging — both explicit and subliminal — that surrounds the issue of cross-border air travel during this pandemic.
No other matter has been subject to as much doublespeak, confusion and obfuscation since COVID -19 landed in Canada.
And no other issue has continually escaped clear, firm, wise and rational decision-making.
But as these anomalies become more apparent, a long-ignored chink in our pandemic-fighting armour may finally be attracting the attention it warrants.
Public outrage has been building since late December, when pictures of jammed airports and vacationers cavorting on tropical beaches infuriated those who heeded advice to spend Christmas alone. Anger grew as public officials — from politicians like Quebec Liberal MNA Pierre Arcand to a hospital CEO in Ontario — were called out for hypocrisy over their own sundrenched escapades.
To contain the political fallout, the federal government slapped a belated requirement for a negative COVID-19 test on travellers re-entering the country. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, like a parent threatening consequences he doesn't want to mete out, warned would-be vacationers to think twice before booking a flight, because the rules just might change without notice.
Premier François Legault on Tuesday upped the ante, demanding that Trudeau ban all non-essential cross-border trips. He also asked the federal government to ensure returning travellers respect their 14-day quarantine with more than a robocall.
While clearly relishing finding a new wedge to drive between Ottawa and Quebec, Legault is also good at reading the public mood. And Quebecers are keenly aware of the havoc international travel can cause. Quebec's distinction as the pandemic hotspot in Canada last spring was widely attributed to the flurry of international travel during our ill-timed March Break. With infections once again at a critical level, the thought of suntanned holidayers bringing home new variants of the virus has everyone on edge.
Although happy to make political hay, Legault is rightfully frustrated. Airports are federal turf. And since Spring Break 2020 they have been the unguarded rear flank of the pandemic battlefield. Various trackers report on flights with disembarking passengers who later test positive. And most arrivals — whether residents or visitors — are allowed entry with little more than a stern warning about quarantine.
Montreal was so alarmed last spring by the lax response, it marshalled its own public health resources to Trudeau Airport, jurisdiction be damned.
Legault has mandated the public security minister to investigate Quebec's options now. But he sure as heck doesn't want to pay for it. Nor does he want to redeploy already strained policing and public health resources.
Ottawa has been trying to have its cake and eat it, too. Rather than offer beleaguered airlines a proper bailout, as many other countries have, Trudeau's plan for keeping them in business seems to be allowing them to continue with business as usual. Instead of forcing companies to reimburse voyagers for trips never taken, the government has looked the other way while clients are rebooked for later dates before the pandemic is over. Instead of clearly defining essential versus non-essential travel, the federal government has allowed people to interpret the rules any old way they like.
But if the incoherence is increasingly egregious, the lack of enforcement of even the toothless rules that do exist is truly inexcusable. Trusting people who thought it was OK to leave the country to quarantine on their own is farcical. Yet the reality is there simply aren't enough resources to check up on everyone who's supposed to be holed up at home.
Therein lies a first step in resolving this conundrum: a clear and concise definition of essential travel to close the doors enough to reduce comings and goings. There should be support for airlines so they're not tempting weary Canadians with tantalizing deals. And for those who must absolutely leave the country, there must to be either careful monitoring, or places for them to quarantine.
Canada did this with stranded passengers rescued from cruise ships last spring. New Zealand has managed it with the few people it allowed to enter and exit the country. The move might have the added benefit of helping the cratering hotel industry.
Trudeau has said he is open to “strengthening ” travel restrictions. Let's hope the days of contradictory messages and meaningless rules are numbered.