Canadian PM says U.S.-Canadian border will reopen ‘eventually, but not for today’
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that the U.S.-Canadian border will “eventually” reopen from its COVID-19 closure, but hinted it likely won’t be anytime soon.
“We’re all eager to be able to travel again,” Trudeau said March 15 during a news conference in Montreal, according to a story published by Global News. “But I think we’re all going to wait patiently until such time as the health situation allows us to loosen border restrictions internationally. That’ll be eventually, but not for today.”
The border is currently scheduled to be closed to non-essential travel until at least March 21 — one year, to the day since the two countries first closed the border in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 during opening stages of the pandemic. The closure has been extended on month-by-month basis 11 times, most recently on Feb. 19.
Hopes that the border restrictions might begin to loosen increased after Trudeau met virtually with U.S. President Joe Biden last month. The two agreed to coordinate their efforts at the border and base decisions on science, according to a Buffalo News story at the time, but no reopening plans were announced.
Trudeau’s comments Monday show that Canada is not ready to allow more travelers to cross.
A story last week by the CBC said that neither government has said what benchmarks — data driven or otherwise — must be cleared on either side of the border before it is reopened.
“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” one Canadian official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the CBC. “In the near term, however, people should expect the border measures (to continue).”
One likely part of the reasoning for reluctance to reopen the border is that Canadian vaccination efforts are lagging behind those in the U.S.
According to a March 11 story by the Washington Post, the U.S. has administered nearly four times as many vaccine doses per person as Canada, and President Biden has announced plans to have enough supply to cover every U.S. adult by the end of May, though it may take longer to administer the shots.
Canada, meanwhile, expects to have all adults vaccinated by the end of September, according to the story.
“We’re not there on our vaccinations yet,” Surrey-White Rock legislative assembly member Trevor Halford told Vancouver, B.C., radio station NEWS 1130. “So, I think we need to make sure that we have strong vaccination levels over here on the Canadian side, on the British Columbian side.”
On this side of the border, meanwhile, a number of legislators have called on the Biden administration to work to begin reopening the borders. The latest plea, according to a CTV story last week, was from Rep. Brian Higgins of New York, who asked Biden in a letter to work with Trudeau toward a partial opening of the border by Memorial Day and a full opening by July 4.
Rep. Suzan DelBene sent a letter to the White House last month asking the administration work with Canadian officials, saying “as we approach one year of restricted travel, individuals, families, businesses, and communities on both sides of the border have been significantly impacted by these restrictions.” Other Washington state legislators and Gov. Jay Inslee have sent similar requests to U.S. and Canadian officials in recent months.
But, if anything, Canada has tightened things down, with new stricter testing and quarantine regulations for those who cross the border. Those who cross the border must now show proof of a negative molecular test within 72 hours of entry, and anyone crossing into Canada is given two COVID-19 specimen collection kits — one for collection that day and one for day 10 of their mandatory 14-day quarantine. Failure to complete either test could lead to fines up to $750,000 or imprisonment, according to Travel Canada.
Some experts think even more needs to be done.
“Less travel right now would be a really good idea,” Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, told Global News earlier this month. “The emphasis that we’re putting on doing testing for traveling is a little bit of lipstick on a pig.”
Furness went on to say he hoped people would decide not to travel over the next two month, adding “It would allow us to manage quarantine easier for those who do.”
COVID numbers update
As of Monday, the United States continues to have the highest number of COVID cases in the world with more than 29.4 million confirmed cases and 535,000 related deaths, according to the John Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard. Canada, meanwhile, was 22nd overall with more than 916,000 cases and 22,000 related deaths.
The U.S. is the third-most populated country in the world with more than 331 million residents, according to worlometers.info, while Canada is No. 39 with more than 37 million residents.
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard as of Friday, March 12, the province has seen 86,867 total cases during the pandemic and 1,397 confirmed deaths — an increase of 11,540 cases and 76 deaths since the last border extension was announced Feb. 19. With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia has seen an infection rate of 226.3 cases and 1.5 deaths per 100,000 residents since Feb. 19.
The Washington State Department of Health, meanwhile, reported 328,166 confirmed cases and 5,123 related deaths on Friday — an increase of 13,511 cases and 320 deaths since Feb. 19. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state has averaged 180.0 cases and 4.26 deaths per 100,000 residents since Feb. 19.
Closure economic impact
Whatcom County is certainly feeling the economic impact of the border closure, which is now less than a week away from marking a full year.
The Western Washington University Border Policy Research Institute found before the pandemic that Canadians comprise approximately 75% of cross-border travelers to and from Whatcom County, depending on the exchange rate when the border is open, according to information Director Laurie Trautman emailed to The Bellingham Herald for an earlier story.
In 2018, that would have represented approximately 10.5 million southbound Canadian travelers through the Blaine, Lynden, Sumas and Point Roberts points of entry.
Those Canadians represent a large portion of consumers in Whatcom County — anywhere from 2% to 46% of the weekend customer base Whatcom County retailers see, Trautman reported, adding that the average is about 17%.
Essential travel between the two countries is still allowed, though, and that includes transportation of freight.
Bureau of Transportation statistics show that freight shipments across the border are continuing to recover from early pandemic lows.
The statistics show freight crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada via truck was down 9.9% from 2019 to $309 billion. Rail freight between the two countries was down 18.3% to $79 billion.
Including the southern border with Mexico, which also has been closed to non-essential traffic since March 21, 2020, all transborder freight was worth an estimated $1.06 trillion, which was down 13.3% from 2019. Transborder freight declined in 2020 from 2019 in every month since the start of COVID-19 except for December, when there was a 0.4% increase over 2019, according to the statistics.
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Canadian PM says U.S.-Canadian border will reopen ‘eventually, but not for today’."
