CHECKPOINTS FOR TRAVEL BETWEEN REGIONS REJECTED

Quebec's public security minister rejected calls on Wednesday from opposition parties to set up police checkpoints limiting travel between regions when some COVID-19 health orders are relaxed next week. Instead, Geneviève Guilbault said the government is relying on the honour system to discourage Quebecers located in red pandemic-alert zones to visit the six, less-populated regions that will be reopened considerably next Monday. Public health hasn't recommended the regions be closed off, she said, adding that police already have their hands full keeping tabs on returning travellers in quarantine and monitoring whether people are following the provincewide nighttime curfew. “We have to rely on the good faith of Quebecers and we have from the very beginning of the pandemic,” Guilbault told reporters. Non-essential stores, museums and personal-care salons will reopen Monday in big cities such as Montreal and Quebec City, but restaurants, gyms and other entertainment venues will stay closed — unlike in the six regions.