Reopening borders not a priority for Niagara
Many residents feel health risk still too high to let travellers visit
Niagara’s border communities want the Canada-U.S. border to remain closed to all but essential travel for the near future. Niagara Falls hotelier Vince Kerrio said reopening the largely closed crossings too quickly could have a negative health and economic impact here. Across the border, with roughly double the population of Niagara region, Erie County, N.Y., has counted about seven times the number of COVID-19 deaths and roughly eight times more confirmed cases. New York state is among the hardest-hit centres in the world, though its numbers are finally starting to drop. During Tuesday’s council meeting, Kerrio, who is also a Niagara Falls city councillor, said as the province’s emergency measures are eased and businesses get back to a semblance of normalcy, they may have to depend on visitors from across Ontario to get by in the short term. “Our community is going to be impacted with the border open or closed, but we would be impacted more if we allowed the border to open and brought many people in from New York state. They’re not in the same situation we’re in,” he said. “Our businesses, when we open, are going to be mostly people from the GTA coming down to our area, and we’d do a lot better if they feel safer coming here than if they didn’t feel safer coming here. “We may want to keep the border closed longer than the rest of the country, and it may help us in our business case.” In mid-March, the border was closed to all but essential travel and commercial vehicles carrying products. The agreement between Ottawa and Washington was extended once, and with it now due to expire May 21 they’re looking at it again. A source familiar with the ongoing discussions told The Canadian Press Canada has requested another 30-day extension. The source, who isn’t authorized to share details of the talks publicly, said it will likely be several days before the U.S. formally agrees to extend the closure to June 21.
On Tuesday, Niagara Falls city council voted to receive and file a resolution approved by councils in Fort Erie and Port Colborne regarding the border.
It requests Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continue limiting cross-border travel to essential traffic only; that restrictions remain in place until the “flattening of the outbreak curve” in the U.S. is on par with Ontario; that Canada Border Services Agency, with other health and law-enforcement authorities, continue screening and monitoring people crossing the border to ensure only essential travellers or people who reside in Canada gain entry into Canada.
It also requests special attention be paid to outbreak statistics concerning border states in the eventual decision-making process to return cross-border travel to pre-pandemic normalcies.
Niagara Falls council sent its own letter to Trudeau and other politicians over its concerns about reopening the border too soon. It wants to provide input in the federal government’s decision-making process.
“We are all concerned about
COVID coming into the country,” said Coun. Lori Lococo.
Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Betty Disero said her town’s council supported Fort Erie’s resolution this week, adding it’s not time to reopen the border.
“It’s going to be difficult enough to get into some sort of new normal just by receiving tourists from our province, so to add to that component of people from an area which has been identified as an at-risk area would make it even more difficult,” she said. “We’re not ready to open to international traffic yet, and until we are, we’d ask them to please stay home.”