Mayors call to end COVID-19 testing at Canada-U.S. borders
Restrictions at Canada-U.S. land borders are set to change next week.
Travellers will no longer need a negative PCR test to enter Canada. Instead, they can choose to take a cheaper rapid antigen test.
However, community leaders on both sides of the border are calling on the feds to eliminate land border testing altogether.
“You still have to go through the hassle of clicking the box, making the appointment, finding a pharmacy that is available,” says Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.
Dilkens took part in a conference call Friday, with other cross-border mayors.
“Somehow or another, it is easier for you to hop into a confined space like an airplane and get to where you want to be, but to hop in your car with family and friends to get across the border is some scary concept,” says Robert Restaino, Mayor of Niagara Falls, NY.
“We’ve choked off tourism. Here in Niagara alone, we’ve got 40,000 people that count on tourism to feed their families,” added Jim Diodati, Mayor of Niagara Falls, Ont.
The call was moderated by the Frontier Duty Free Association, who say they’ve been either closed, or over 95 per cent down in revenue with the two year border closure.
“All while planes have flown over the border. Change is needed now. Not a month from now. Now,” says executive director Barbara Barrett.
Dilkens worries the tourism industry will continue to suffer, should testing restrictions remain in place.
“I am home to North America’s largest distillery, 19 wineries, 13 craft breweries and a whole host of other tourists attractions you would find in a border community,” says Dilkens. “This community is being hit hard.”
The president of the Hotel Association of Canada Susie Grynol says a third summer of restrictions could cause the industry to collapse.
“I’m gonna be clear. Canada is not open for business for all the reasons that have been identified in this call already,” says Grynol.
Martin Firestone, of Travel Secure, believes the removal of a required COVID-19 test should happen sooner than later.
“We are probably the last country that still has these requirements in place. Until that level is removed, tourism is going to suffer tremendously,” says Firestone.
The adjustment to the testing requirement goes into effect Feb. 28.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
Flammable kids' sleepwear, salmonella-contaminated chips: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued recalls for various items this week, including kids' bassinets, chips, and stoves. Here's what to watch out for.
Lyon-bound Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Montreal turns back midflight due to pressurization alert
Passengers heading from Montreal to Lyon, France on Friday were forced to return home and depart the next day after a pressurization indication was detected in flight.
U.S. ambassador 'not aware' of any plans for Trudeau-Trump meeting
Canada's Ambassador to the United States says she's 'not aware' of any plans for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with former U.S. president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before the November American election.
Sentencing trial set to begin for Florida man who executed 5 women at a bank in 2019
Zephen Xaver walked into a central Florida bank in 2019, fatally shot five women and then called police to tell them what he did. Now 12 jurors will decide whether the 27-year-old former prison guard trainee is sentenced to death or life without parole.
'How do you get hypothermia in a prison?' Records show hospitalizations among Virginia inmates
The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: "unbearable" conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia.
The secret Italian lakes that most tourists don't know about
Italy has dozens of secret smaller lakes that boast superb scenery, unknown to mass tourism, where locals get together on day trips and enjoy picnics.
Canadian immigration asks medical worker fleeing Gaza if he treated Hamas fighters
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.