The border between the U.S. and Canada has been closed for nearly 14 months. Many North Americans from both countries are chomping at the bit to be able to visit the other country, with reasons that vary from seeing friends and family, to owning property, to just wanting to easily vacation in places such as Banff and Walt Disney World.
For several months in 2020, the percentage of Canadians diagnosed with COVID were significantly better than those in the U.S. However once the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines became available and shots began to go into arms, cases in the U.S. began to go down, while those in certain provinces of the Great White North were continuing to rise. Either way, Prime Minister Trudeau was (and currently is) not willing to reopen the border.
But time marches on and things are starting to look a little better.
- In March, Trudeau said it was “not yet” time to open the border
- In April he said that Canadian government officials were looking at planning stages towards reopening the border
And now?
Well, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has been pushing harder for non-essential travel to open between the two countries, saying “we can’t wait any longer” for the re-opening.
Trudeau’s retort, in the form of discussion with reporters in Ottowa, was that Canada is content to leave things in place for now, saying, “Now is not the time to travel.”
However, he also suggested that travel might be possible sometime this summer and that “perhaps” the land border could be reopened to non-essential travel.
He also added that some sort of vaccine passport might well be required for such travel.
“As people start to travel again – perhaps this summer if everything goes well – it would make sense for us to align with partners around the world on some sort of proof of vaccination or vaccine certification,” Trudeau said. “We are now working with allies, particularly in Europe, on that.”
The U.S. government has no plans to issue any sort of “official federal government” vaccine passports but is suggesting that private entities will provide them.
As we said in April when Trudeau claimed they were looking at the planning stage for travel, baby steps.
But hey, baby steps are still better than nothing.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
