The Trudeau government is still considering a ban on non-essential travel to Canada by foreign nationals, the Toronto Star is reporting.
A proposal to shut Canada’s borders to non-essential travellers was one of four options the Trudeau cabinet considered Tuesday as it grappled with the growth of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, reporter Tonda MacCharles said.
The idea met with opposition from some Cabinet members and from some provincial premiers. But a source told the Star it’s still under consideration.
Trudeau mentioned the idea in his Tuesday Cabinet meeting, and then posed that and other possible moves in his Tuesday night chat with premiers, MacCharles wrote.
The federal government on Wednesday announced it was adopting a travel advisory for Canada, suggesting that Canadians avoid all non-essential travel outside of the country. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos on Wednesday said more measures were likely.
On Friday, Ottawa announced that it was going to once again require all Canadians to get a PCR test before coming back into the country, even if they’re out of the country for just a few hours. That policy, which comes into effect on Tuesday, Dec. 21, was met with strong criticism from WestJet and others in the airline industry, who argue flying is very safe and that the Liberal government should focus on more testing and on further vaccine rollouts.
But it appears Trudeau is still quite worried.
“Honestly, everything’s under consideration,” one senior federal government source told the Star, speaking on a background-only basis. “The U.K. is facing tremendous numbers. Omicron numbers are doubling every two to three days around the world.”
“If the numbers in Canada keep rising, the insiders said, the government would have to take further action,” according to MacCharles’ report.
CTV News reports that all non-essential stores, bars and restaurants in the Netherlands will be closed until Jan. 14 starting Sunday, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at a hastily arranged press conference Saturday night. Schools and universities will shut until Jan. 9, he said. As well residents will be allowed only two visitors at a time except for Christmas and New Year’s, when four will be allowed.
Even at the height of the Delta variant, and early on in the pandemic, Canadians have been allowed to fly to foreign destinations and re-enter Canada. It seems unlikely the government would go so far as to ban Canadians from leaving the country, but Australia passed a law that did just that for its residents.
