(Ottawa) Canada’s tourism industry pleads with the federal government to lift ‘unnecessary’ border health measures, to which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds that the pandemic is not over and that ‘people are dying every day’ .
Posted at 12:41 p.m.
Long delays on the tarmac, hours of waiting at customs, duplicate health checks, random tests on arrival: representatives of the tourism sector on Wednesday listed the elements that amplify delays, frustrate passengers and create congestion at airports.
“The travel industry is the only industry that continues to be subject to these restrictions,” said Susie Grynol, president and CEO of the Hotel Association of Canada, at a press conference in Ottawa.
With the summer vacation period fast approaching, the country’s largest airports are projecting that passenger numbers will increase by 50%.
So much so that the Canadian Airports Council is demanding that Ottawa withdraw the remaining sanitary measures at the border “by June 15”, said its interim president, Monette Pasher.
“Every day counts. We have to save our summer, she explained in response to a question. It is an urgent problem. »
The group has three demands: remove random testing at airports, end duplicate questions at the border and no longer require security and customs employees to be vaccinated for work.
The health protocols in force mean that it takes customs officers two to four times longer per passenger than before, a process that took them about 30 seconds, she noted.
The National Airlines Council of Canada believes that the country “must align itself with the international community”.
“Nearly 50 countries have removed all their barriers to travel,” said its interim president, Suzanne Acton-Gervais.
Follow the science
A few minutes earlier, the Prime Minister was questioned on the subject as he entered his party’s caucus meeting.
“I know there are a lot of people who want to pretend it doesn’t exist anymore, but we are in a pandemic and people are dying every day in hospitals, he said. Our responsibility is to ensure the safety of everyone and that is done by following the science. »
Its Minister of Tourism, Randy Boissonnault, abounded in the same direction. “Health first and then travel,” he said.
Mr. Boissonnault also noted that countries do not all behave in the same way, for example Israel imposes three doses of vaccine while Canada only requires two.
“I know it worries the tourism sector, but at the same time we see that it is skyrocketing, he pleaded. We took away the PCR tests, the rapid tests. If we go to the United States, we need a quick test so I think we have a good balance at the moment and we are following the file very closely. »
Among the Conservatives, the spokesperson for innovation, science and industry, Gérard Deltell, believes that the Trudeau government could take action and listen to “completely relevant” suggestions from industry.
“We see that the situation overall is improving,” explained Mr. Deltell on his arrival at the Conservative caucus meeting.
He notably considered that wearing a mask is always “a good suggestion”, but that “the obligation of vaccination has also demonstrated its limits”.
With information from Émilie Bergeron