Slowdowns at Canadian airports are “unacceptable” and are harming the country’s economy, Mississauga civic and business leaders said today.
Speaking at a press conference at Toronto Pearson Airport, officials said the Trudeau government needs to take urgent action to address delays at Pearson and other airports.
The speakers said Ottawa needs to dump random COVID-19 testing at Canadian airports, and also needs to eliminate lengthy conversations between Canadian Borders Services Agency (customs workers) and arriving passengers.
Doug Allingham, Chair of the Board of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, said chats with custom officers have traditionally taken about 30 seconds per passenger. That’s now around two or even four minutes, he said.
International passengers arriving at Toronto Pearson have been forced to wait up to three hours, often on board the aircraft, during peak periods before proceeding to customs, officials said today. Last week, 6,000 travellers waited longer than 60 minutes on airplanes after arrival and before entering the Customs Hall. As the summer travel season approaches, without immediate action, these wait times will only get worse.
Arriving passengers already have to fill out an ArriveCAN app with their health information. Requiring passengers to repeat the information to a customs officer makes no sense, officials said.
Duplicate health checks and COVID-19 tests at the airport “are impossible to justify,” said Victoria Clarke, CEO of Tourism Mississauga.
Clarke said her city “can no longer afford to be weighed down by unnecessary and obsolete pandemic policies that lag far behind our international counterparts.”
In celebrating Tourism Week in Canada, local leaders said Mississagua and Toronto Pearson are recognized as gateways to Canada, connecting people from all corners of the world. Toronto Pearson’s direct global connectivity enables the national economy, driving local tourism, immigration, investment, jobs and trade.
With businesses just now emerging from the crisis caused by the pandemic over the last two years, long wait times and delays at Canada’s airports are the first impression for many international travellers, and run counter to the view that Canada is a world class destination and place for investment, officials said. The current experience at Canada’s airports is a significant obstacle to business and leisure travel recovery.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and city and business officials at Toronto Pearson Airport.
“Removing random testing and duplicative health screening questions from airports are steps that can be taken immediately to smooth travel, encourage more passengers to travel to and through Canada and rally the national economy,” said Allingham.
“Left unaddressed in the immediate term, the frustration travellers are experiencing will have detrimental and long-lasting impacts on Mississauga’s tourism industry and Canada’s reputation internationally,” said Trevor McPherson, CEO and President of the Mississauga Board of Trade.
“If the federal government doesn’t act quickly it could get much worse.”
McPherson said the tourism industry is the only group being targeted by these kinds of policies.
While leaders thanked the federal government for recently announcing important steps in the right direction, including increasing the number of Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) screening officers, they said it will take weeks before those moves take effect.
