Keeping the U.S. – Canada border closed makes no sense. Infection rates and vaccination rates are roughly similar on both sides of the border. There are variants spreading already on both sides of the border, besides the restrictions weren’t tight enough to stop those anyway. The border has remained closed out of a desire to signal that the government is doing something (fear of foreigners plays in here) and bureaucratic inertia (status quo bias prevails when no one wants to be responsible for a mistake, outbreak or case cluster).
There’s finally some hope on the horizon and an expectation that the border may be re-opened July 21.
- Canada’s Prime Minister has said he won’t allow the border to be re-opened until 75% of his country’s population has been vaccinated. More than 75% of those eligible have received shots, they just need to overshoot now to compensate for children under 12 not being eligible.
- Trudeau says to expect border re-openings in ‘weeks not months’ so presumably the U.S. border (given reduced infection rates and high vaccination rates) would be among the first restrictions relaxed.
- Quebec and Ontario Premiers had been pressuring the national government to tighten restrictions further, but those calls have been muted.
- Technically the closure it mutual, but the U.S. goes along because they don’t want to be seen as weak and need their own closure as leverage to get Canada to open. The U.S. doesn’t fear the Canadian border as such and will open when Canada is ready.
This adds up to the possibility that the border closer may not be extended again. There’s no good reason for it, it’s just lack of political courage standing in the way. That would sure make things easier for Point Roberts, Washington.
“Keeping the U.S. – Canada border makes no sense.”
There’s a word missing there, but even if there wasn’t, I approve this sentence. Artificial borders between members of the same species will be looked upon, by future generations, as even dumber than the bottom 10% of American Airlines gates agents.
Dick. You think a group of people who band together and take from their earnings to build a common infrastrucure, welfare etc, should then open it up to let anyone cone and take it?
Where is your house and savings? I would like to come and make use of it because we are the same species. Though your IQ must be extremely lower than mine.
@FlyingBoat, it’s likely you and I are currently in the same country, i.e. the two of us effectively operate under open borders. I don’t need a passport or visa to visit you, and vice versa. But I don’t get to live in your house or ransack your savings, and neither do you. My IQ is 155 plus or minus a few points to account for the test’s standard error of measurement. I’d love to see your result from a valid and reliable test. “Valid” and “reliable” being technical terms used in the industry, not just in the layperson’s sense.
It remains glaringly ironic that a liberal country like canada has remained so closed off to outsiders when their interests are at (perceived) risk. So much for the arguments against walls/borders and being accepting of those who need help/escape persecution at any cost.
Trudeau wants 75% FULLY vaccinated, and that wont happen until end of July
But yes, I would expect the border to open to fully vaxxed, and 72 hour tested Americans with pre-approval on July 21.
And it all depends if the imbecile running Ontario starts making noise about borders again.
Whenever the UK opens up July 21 that’s when Canada will open their borders-bet on it.
Trudeau and Biden, a match made in stupid.
Canadian perspective here. I live with multiple medical conditions which would check many boxes on the list for a rocky ICU admission. That alone makes me welcome border closures and lockdown and masks and vaccinations. The numbers speak for themselves. We are individually safe when we are collectively safe.
Open the border and require vaccination or a 3-day PCR test both ways. I have a good friend, dual citizen, who came to my hometown in the U.S. for her mom’s memorial service. While here she got her second shot and s negative COVID test. When she returned to B.C. she was sentenced to mandatory 14 day quarantine, a sentence she is still serving . It is ludicrous. This is not following the science at all.
They should just open the border now to fully vaccinated people. I can understand not opening it to the unvaccinated especially with the new variants rapidly spreading across the US.
At this point, any covid restriction is pointless and anyone who doesnt see it is a complete moron. The virus is never going away. As I have been saying for over a year, we need to learn to live with it. We cant live like hermits forever. Quarantines and border closures made sense when it was believed the virus could be defeated. They made sense when the virus was new and there was not as much knowledge on how to treat it and who was most at risk. Now that we know that most (90-99%) wont die or suffer long term consequences, we need to treat this virus like we do every other virus.
It is simply not sustainable or feasible to vaccinate every person in the world as much as 6-10 times or more a year. One yearly booster for each variant plus new vaccinates for each new variant. The sad fact is that humans cannot defeat nature. For modern people used to science having all the solutions, we forget that science has its limitations. This virus cannot be conquered. It will run its course and will likely be with us for many generations if not forever.
Señor Leff said: “ Keeping the U.S. – Canada border makes no sense.”?
As they are two sovereign countries, keeping the border makes sense.
I think a word was left out in that opening sentence.
Didn’t realize you were full in on eliminating borders
The cruise lines have already written off Canada for 2021 I’m sure those ports being skipped are thrilled with Canadian border policy right now. Personally, I think we should all avoid Canada so @Chris can remain healthy.
Glad to see Señor Leff has since edited the first sentence in his copy and added the word “closed” so as to change the sentence to this:
“Keeping the U.S. – Canada border closed makes no sense.“
Being flagged as an open borders globalist may get you the General Milley, A-G Barr and VP Pence treatment from the Trump zealots.
@DaninMCI
Actually in Victoria BC, we are very happy to be without being overran by cruisers.
Its been like a breath of fresh air to have our city back, and it hasnt really affected the economy at large.
There will definitely be a push to scale back and allow less ships in the future.
@GUWonder I believe there should be orders of magnitude more immigration than there is today
My husband and I are U S citizens and have been seasonal residence in a remote area of northern B C for over 20 years. It is our primary residence and we invested in large property and a beautiful home there. Our friends and family of 3 generations have enjoyed the people and the area for all these years. We miss our many friends there. We spend 6 months in rented apartments in various warm locations in the U S and every moment of our allowed 183 days at our home in B C. We are now in our late 70’s and had been in the U S for the winter when the border closed, hence we have been unable to go home since we left in Oct of 2019. We have been fully vaccinated and tried to cross once with our vaccination cards and 1 day old Covid test in hand and were refused. At our age we know we will have to sell our wonderful family home when ever we can finally go home. Every day that we can’t get there is a day that has been taken from us and ours. We do understand some of those days were necessary, but not now. Canada, please let us come home.
Given how few US visas have been processed during this pandemic, the pandemic travel bans and all the pandemic-related disruptions that have interrupted migration flows — some that caused people who immigrated from high income countries to the US (before the pandemic) to emigrate out of the US during the pandemic — any increase in immigration would easily be an orders of magnitude increase over what has been the case during this pandemic.
Amazing how many bash Canada when I bet they haven’t been there or experienced their healthcare system. Great country and great healthcare system. At least you don’t go bankrupt with medical debt.
Fully vaccinated people (with proof) should be allowed to enter and exit the country. Else science failed
Dick: You are FAR more dellusional than I thought if you think your IQ is higher than your shoe size judging by the comments that you make on a regular basis. Keep dreaming there little moron. You must be one of those folks that thinks we should just open the southern boarder and let it flow in full force. A brave stance to take in CT, one of the whitest, most monochromatic places on earth. For all your 155 IQ (Hahahahah!!!), you can’t even figure out that you actually live in Greenwich, CT if your actually being honest in your name there.
Here in Maine the continued border closure is getting old. Along the St. John and St. Croix River there are towns that are side by side with many business and family connections…there is also a low covid rate on both sides….why continue to keep things closed??
Enough is enough, open the border, let us get back to Normal not a new normal…this is not Russia or China, there will always be a B.S variant to try to use as an excuse to lock us up and control our movements, no thanks Trudeau…take your agenda and shove it.
We (both Americans and Canadians) owe a tremendous debt to President Donald Trump for arranging to get anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines developed and on the market in under a year, a feat never before accomplished. Right now Canadians are dragging their feet a bit in terms of % of the population vaccinated, but Canadians are generally more conservative than Americans. Unfortunately, SARS-CoV-2 is extremely infectious (note that social distancing and mask-wearing totally obliterated the 2020-2021 flu season) and COVID-19 carries a somewhat higher mortality rate than flu, so it is a fearsome beast. However, there may be a simple home remedy for COVID-19 sufferers. “Take a scant tsp of CsCl mixed in a glass of juice, wait ~8hrs, then eat a banana. Expect diarrhea. Repeat 3-4X.” Note that CsCl is FDA-approved for clinical use without a prescription. Also, CsCl targets the viral RNA polymerase so escape or breakthrough mutants cannot form. If only I could get a few people to try it!
The problem is that there are several Provinces with very little Covid. When you have little Covid, you are the most terrified. Also, there are obviously no Southerners in Canada to instill a common sense reality check on the liberal elite. Imagine what USA restrictions might still look like without states like Florida and Texas, and if California, Illinois, Michigan and New York dictated Covid policy without other states proving such policies were useless. There is no real check on elite Covid insanity in Canada.
Bottomline: I’ll be (very pleasantly) surprised if border restrictions are meaningfully eased this month.
My husband and I own a home in Newfoundland. I am the American daughter of a Newfoundlander and have many (not immediate) relatives in NFLD and in Toronto. We are vaccinated. We only want to see our house, ensure that it is okay, and do necessary repairs that two years of neglect may have caused. We want to see our relatives some of whom are elderly and barely hanging on. We are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep ourselves and our family/neighbors safe. It is not right that others will be soon entering Canada and we cannot. We contribute to the economy. We are following this all very closely
This policy, of denying foreigners (even fully vaccinated foreigners) the use of their own properties in Canada, with no due process and no recompense, while, at the same time, sending them a full tax bill, is selfish and exploitative, and utterly at odds with the evidently BS image of fairness that Canada pretends to present.
Obviously, there is NO public health reason to prevent fully vacinnated and negative tested people from visiting their own lands.
This is ALL about Trudeau’s perception of the electorate.
I can travel to Europe but can’t travel to my native Canada.
Go figure!
Let us start a protest march. Get your banners up. Canadian start marching to the US Border, American Start Marching to the Canadian Border, close all shops, business and make a one day statement and scream at the top of your lungs. Huff and Puff and blow your gates down. See what happens, I bet your those decision makers, will sit and watch on the media and be amused.
Here is an interesting on for you all. Young man goes to USA from Canada to visit sweetheart.
Returns but can not find a hotel to quarantine in two days before the BC restrictions were lifted on crowds, restaurants being open. Only hotels available were 5 star, and government slapped him with $5750.00 fine to quarantine at home. Sounds like money grab to me. Who is benefiting here and how does that control covid.
Border is not open for unvaxed, so thats half the usa….me & mine will never take their CRUD or even be tested…..I have grave of a dear loved one ,….beleive me i wil get too that grave….Trudeau and his ilk will rot in hell…how that fuk did Canada allow that zero in power…a marxist, ego maniac
I am a Canadian, my boyfriend live 10 mins from me in Buffalo, I can not cross the land border,I havent seen him in 16 months, There is many relationships Babies who haven’t even met there dad yet. wives, husbands, grandparents so many sad stories filled with heart ache and mental stress. for me to go see my boyfriend I would have to get a dog sitter, drive 2 hrs to Toronto find a place to leave my car in Toronto. get on a 500 dollar flight that travels first to Chicago with a 3 to 5 hr stop over then continue to Buffalo. Then when returning to Canada I would walk across the Bridge find a way to get to Toronto (2 hrs away ) Drive back to Fort Erie . so going to a packed airport sitting on a plane full of people is safer then what would normally take me five mins in the safety of my own car to cross a bridge i can see out my window … ya that makes sense!
This insanity must be stopped. These politicians aren’t doctors & they’ve only been listening to one set of doctors this whole time! Why? There are just as many if not more other doctors, scientists & researchers saying this whole charade has been played completely wrong!! Never should have shut down the border to begin with. We are like family our 2 countries. People don’t usually travel if they’re sick anyway. Why from day 1 did Trudy. Just talk about this is your new normal & it ends with a vaccine? Why in the world wouldn’t they have talked about boosting your immune systems, etc. At the beginning?? Why do we have a health minister that doesn’t even know the benefits of vitamin D?? She calls it fake news:( why have doctors not been allowed to use repurposed safe available drugs that have been around for years?? Many doctors all over the world have done so & saved many hundreds of thousands of lives. Why are the doctors being warned by their college not to speak their mind on this whole fiasco? There’s supposed to be informed consent for vaccines especially ones that are still in trials. How many people actually were given the full information? & Why?? If people report adverse reactions is it not believed? Did anyone see senator Ron Johnson s panel discussion with people suffering adverse side effects,? There have been over 6,000 reported deaths from these covid vaccines in the six months since they came out . That is more than ALL the reported deaths for ALL vaccines combined for the last 20 years!!! & It’s commonly thought that only about 1 percent of deaths & reactions actually get reported because it is time consuming or the patients aren’t believed. When has anyone ever seen free ice cream or burgers or fries or lottery tickets to get your vax? When has opening the country, freedom & liberty ever been tied to percent of vax? This is not right. It’s coercion of a medical procedure. ( Which is risky to many people) it is time to be honest. Open the borders fully. Let us live again. Make Canada free again! It has been completely ridiculous that you have to fly & not drive in your own vehicle. Makes zero sense. Much less likely to pick up germs by yourselves. Just need to open right away & get back to living!!
I’m fully vaccinated and will gladly get tested 72 hours before to enter Toronto. Can’t wait to the those delicious young women again.