Extension of border closure irks businesses
Impatience is escalating to frustration among local business people who learned of the latest COVID -19-related assault to their livelihoods Tuesday when closure of the U.s.-canada border was extended another 30 days.
“We get it, why the government is doing it, but it is going to be another blow to the businesses,” Windsor-essex Regional Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Rakesh Naidu said in response to the news of the third such extension since the first border closure to all but essential services in March.
Naidu said local businesses are already “reeling” because Windsor-essex is one of the few jurisdictions in the province that remain in Phase 1 of Covid-related restrictions to businesses. They’re also suffering from sky-high debt incurred because they have no income for the last 13 to 14 weeks.
“This is one other blow they have to somehow cushion and find a way to work through.”
He said many local businesses have come to a complete standstill, pushed to a point of no return. “Anything that can be done to ease the pain they’re experiencing, whether it’s getting us to Phase 2, whether it’s opening up the border, all of those are things that need to be looked to.”
Mayor Drew Dilkens said he respects the federal government’s decision.
“Certainly, there are a lot of factors that (the PM) has to look at, and he’s looking nationwide. It’s not just about the Windsor-essex area and our border crossings.”
That said, Dilkens is hopeful July 21 will be the last day the Canada-u.s. border will be closed due to pandemic concerns, and he’s optimistic about the outlook.
“When I look at the resumption of commercial traffic at our border, we are back to 78 per cent of what we were PRE-COVID-19. That’s a very good sign that the automotive industry is back, manufacturing is back, and the economy is starting to ramp up.”
However, the mayor recognizes the detrimental effect of no tourism for Windsor-essex. In particular, the area’s largest attraction — Caesars Windsor — hasn’t had a customer base in months.
“But what that does is give (Caesars Windsor) time to learn from what’s happening in the reopening of Las Vegas,” Dilkens said. “To implement the proper protocols to make sure staff are safe, and all the customers — when they can return — will be safe as well.”
Tuesday’s extension of the border closure for yet another 30 days was accepted with resignation by the battered local tourism sector, since the Phase 1 restrictions they’re operating under would handcuff them from serving U.S. customers in any case.
“I think there’s understanding that there’s patience required, that in fact the U.S. market is not coming back and certainly now not anytime soon,” Gordon Orr, CEO of Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island, said Tuesday.
“At the end of the day, we’ve expected that and our real marketing is going to be hyper-local, (appealing to) Windsor-essex residents to support our businesses once they’re ready,” Orr said of the tourism bureau’s new strategy, being hatched in hopes that the region will soon graduate to Phase 2 status allowing cautious reopenings of many hospitality businesses. After marketing to locals, the plan is to move up the 401 to nearby locations like Chatham-kent, Sarnia, London and eventually the GTA.
“And only after that would we be going after the U.S. market, and only when it’s safe to do so,” said Orr. “We’ve always said we are OK with the border being closed because there are no tourism attractions for our American friends to come visit (with the region still in Phase 1), and today that’s still the case.”
In announcing the extension of the border restrictions, Trudeau provided no clues about how they will be eased when the time comes.
While the measures prohibit discretionary travel like vacations and shopping trips, essential workers, trade shipments and temporary foreign workers are still allowed to cross the border.
The chamber’s Naidu said many local companies that rely on people and goods crossing the border are frustrated, “because it’s people’s lives, people’s career and people’s mental health — all of that is being impacted.”
He said he’s not suggesting officials should not pay heed to health concerns. But if there is compliance to all the guidelines — from PPE, to social distancing, to hand sanitizing to rigorous checks at the border — there should be a way to reopen the economy, including the border.
Orr said what’s disappointing is being stuck in Phase 1. When Windsor-essex is approved for Phase 2, it would then make sense to open the border again for tourists.
“We recognize it is also an economic crisis, but at the end of the day health has to triumph and we don’t just want to open and find ourselves in the situation where the curve starts to spike again,” Orr said.
In the U.S., fears of a second wave of COVID -19 have been escalating in recent days as newly reopened states begin to see increases in their active caseloads and hospitalization rates.
Orr said there’s no doubt that the longer the region stays in Phase 1, the tougher it’s going to be for many tourism businesses to survive.
“It’s going to be a slow, steady climb out of this and tourism was hit first, hit hardest and will probably take the longest to recover.” — With files from The Canadian Press