Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Situations demonstrating that we have highly inefficient and disorganized services under the responsibility of the federal government have multiplied in recent weeks. One can think of the absurd delays in obtaining a passport, of the lousy service at the airports… I am tired of continuing to accept this, without anyone ever being held accountable.
Mariano Tucci
Since the start of the pandemic, the federal government has always been one step behind when it comes to transportation.
Initially, he was accused of not closing the borders quickly enough to foreign tourists, then of letting Canadians go south at Christmas. Now that the pandemic is dissipating, Ottawa is slow to lift health measures, while all provinces have eliminated the vast majority of their restrictions.
Scalded cat fears cold water.
Meanwhile, it pushes back at airports. Passengers get stuck on the tarmac or queue for hours at customs. All this, while we are in a slack period. In a month, we will be in the middle of the summer season. Canadians have regained a taste for travel. And it won’t be restful if nothing changes.
Wearing a mask does not pose any major inconvenience and should remain mandatory, as is the case in public transport in Quebec.
But travelers wonder about the real usefulness of other measures, such as ArriveCAN. This form to be completed on the phone adds a layer of bureaucracy and weighs down the protocol at customs, where it is understaffed.
The information collected makes it possible to assess the level of risk of passengers and to determine whether they will have a random test to do, explains a government source. At the very least, we should create separate queues to prevent people who haven’t filled out their forms from slowing down those who have done their homework.
But we can also ask ourselves: why maintain these random tests?
Government response: almost all randomly selected travelers are given a test kit to take the test at home and not at the airport. Barring exceptions, only those who have not been vaccinated are still being tested on site. And since they are few in number, the effect on delays at the airport is minimal.
Okay, but these random tests still put stress on all travelers. And they seem very anachronistic since screening has disappeared everywhere in the country since the holiday season.
Ditto for the vaccine passport which is always required on the plane or train, even if the provinces have abandoned it.
We were among the first to plead in favor of the vaccine passport, which was a great tool. But today, what is its purpose exactly?
Encourage people to get vaccinated?
Yes, at the beginning. But now, the proportion of Canadians who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has reached 87%. And it has increased very little since the beginning of the year, a sign that the recalcitrant will not change their minds.
Prevent contamination?
It is not logical, because during this time, up to 21,000 spectators are roped into the stands of the Bell Center, without passports or masks.
And anyway, the two-dose passport is no longer a panacea. Last fall, two doses of the vaccine provided 90% protection against the Delta variant. But with the new variants, the same two doses only offer 15% protection against infections, even if they remain crucial to reduce the risk of hospitalization.
Unless Ottawa changes the passport to three doses, its use therefore becomes difficult to justify.