The Tourism Industry Association of Canada is welcoming the federal government’s announcement to introduce new regulations that would temporarily expand the Local Lockdown Program to include employers subject to capacity-limiting restrictions of 50 per cent or more and reduce the current-month revenue decline threshold requirement to 25 per cent. They also are applauding the temporary expansion of the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit to include workers in regions where provincial or territorial governments have introduced capacity-limiting restrictions of 50 per cent or more. The Liberal government on Wednesday announced new programs to help businesses and workers hit by partial lockdowns across Canada. Read more

The Canadian government is not going to be closing its borders to battle Omicron, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today. Speaking at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Trudeau said the Omicron variants “is already here.” “Shutting down the borders at this point would not be an effective measure,” Trudeau said. The government instead feels its best to try to limit gathering sizes and improve COVID-19 testing, he said. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos echoed Trudeau’s comments, saying Canada has “some of the strongest border measures” in the world. He also noted that visitors to Canada must be tested for the coronavirus before Read more

It’s no secret that cruise lines have been hit hard by the pandemic. But $8 billion is still a startling figure. Carnival Corporation, which includes Holland America, Carnival Cruises, Princess Cruises, Cunard, Seabourn, and Costa Cruises, is reporting a $2 billion (all figures USD) loss for the fourth quarter of 2021. Open Jaw reports the company’s loss for the year is nearly $8 billion. Still, Carnival President and CEO Arnold Donald says he sees sunnier days ahead for the second half of next year. “Our cash from operations turned positive in the month of November, and we expect consistently positive Read more

It became a little tougher today for Canadians to travel. Just after midnight Eastern Time today, December 21, new rules brought in by the government of Canada to combat the Omicron variant took effect. Under the new regulations, any Canadian who leaves the country must submit a negative PCR test before they’re allowed to return, even if they’re only gone for a few hours. The government was allowing Canadians who left the country for less than 72 hours to get tested before they left on their trip. But the ruling Liberals passed new legislation last week that revoked that policy. Read more

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 Read more

So much for last-minute Christmas shopping in the States this year. The Trudeau government today said it’s reintroducing the requirement for a pre-arrival negative PCR-style COVID-19 test for all travellers coming into Canada, even if they’re Canadians who’ve only been gone a short while. The new policy comes into place next Tuesday, December 21. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos made the announcement against the backdrop of rising Omicron-variant numbers across the country. He also said Canada is ending its much-criticized ban against travel to and from several African countries. When he unveiled the Canadian government’s new travel advisory on Wednesday, Duclos Read more