Border with U.S. closing to ‘non-essential’ travel
If someone had asked Laurie Trautman a month ago whether she thought travel across the Canada-U.S. border would be restricted because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, she wouldn’t have been able to fathom the idea.
However, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday all non-essential traffic between the two countries would be cut off, she wasn’t surprised.
“In retrospect, a month ago I would have really never anticipated this happening. But these are just such unprecedented times that almost nothing is surprising,” said Trautman, who is the director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University.
Two days after Canada decided to close its borders to non-residents, with some exceptions, and redirect all international air travel to just the airports in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, Trudeau said travellers will not be permitted to cross the Canada-U.S. border for recreation, shopping, or tourism. He did not say when the directive will take effect.
There are 19 land border crossings between B.C. and the U.S. — five in the Lower Mainland and 11 in the Interior leading to Washington State, and three in northern B.C. along the Alaska border.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2019, the Lower Mainland ports of entry — Boundary Bay, Peace Arch, Pacific Highway, Aldergrove and Huntingdon — saw 11 million travellers cross. Peace Arch was the busiest, with 4.35 million crossings.
“In both our countries, we’re encouraging people to stay home. We’re telling our citizens not to visit their neighbours unless they absolutely have to,” Trudeau said. “This collaborative and reciprocal measure is an extension of that prudent approach.”
A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency was unable to provide a definition of what constitutes essential or non-essential travel. A query to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency did not receive a response.
Essential travel will be allowed to continue to preserve critical supply chains, Trudeau said, which means trucks will continue to cross the border to deliver food, fuel and medicine, and essential workers such as health-care professionals who live and work on opposite sides will also be permitted to cross.
Government officials also said exemptions will remain in place to ensure Canadians who are now in the U.S. are able to return home.
Although trade will not be affected, businesses on both sides of the border will feel the pinch of fewer visitors.
According to licence plate survey data from the Border Policy Research Institute, at specific retail locations in Whatcom County, Canadians constitute an average of 17 per cent of weekend customers.
Trautman said big retail stores like Ross, Trader Joe’s and Costco are popular with Canadian shoppers, but she believes those big corporations will be able to prevail more easily than smaller retailers. For instance, border gas stations and mailbox outlets rely primarily on Canadians who pop over for a quick visit.
“Those are going to struggle, I think, to weather this storm. Depending on how long those restrictions are in place, those places will not bounce back as quickly, if at all. We’ll see, you know, it’s just so unprecedented,” Trautman said.
Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of B.C., said the travel restrictions that have been implemented in recent weeks and days have had an immediate impact on tourism across the province. He said some hotels are already at less than five-per-cent occupancy, and others are closed or on the brink of closing because they have no guests.
“Any additional measures are going to add to what’s already happened, but most of the damage has already been done,” Judas said. “We’re following the lead of health authorities and recognizing, of course, that the industry is reeling as a consequence, but everybody understands and knows it’s the right thing to do.”
B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, who declared a provincial state of emergency on Wednesday, welcomed the changes at the border, as did Premier John Horgan.