The federal government today announced an end to mandatory vaccination for Canadians travelling domestically on airplanes and trains, and also for outbound international travel. Senior ministers in the Trudeau government said foreign travellers will still need to show proof of vaccination to enter Canada, while unvaccinated Canadians returning home will still be required to quarantine. The new rules will take effect Monday, June 20. Other entry requirements will stay in place, including the requirement to fill out the government’s ArriveCAN app. Masks will still be required on airplanes, large ships, and trains, officials said. Foreign nationals coming to Canada will Read more
Canadian government
The Trudeau government says it’s working overtime to solve passport logjams for Canadians. Airport congestion has hogged most of the headlines, but Canadians eager to travel also have been waiting in long, long lineups for passports or passport renewals. Karina Gould, Minister of Children, Families and Social Development, issued the following statement today: “After two years of travel restrictions, Canada and many other countries around the world are seeing a significant surge in demand for passports. As is the case in many countries, the size and suddenness of this surge has created delays for Canadians in getting the passport services Read more
Canadian Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault says it could take weeks for the federal government to ease congestion at the nation’s airports. Tempers have been boiling over for some time as Canadians revert to 2019 travel patterns, only to be faced with long lineups at security and customs and a shortage of staff in the tourism and travel industry. Speaking to CTV’s Question Period, Boissonnault said he’s not happy with reports of Canadians waiting hours to get through travel checkpoints, particularly at Toronto Pearson International Airport. “I’m going to be very blunt. I’m not happy with the situation. I don’t want Read more
Canada’s federal auditor general is slamming the way Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) handled the controversial quarantine hotel program this year. A report from auditor general Karen Hogan says PHAC had a hard time keeping track of whether travellers staying in quarantine hotels were actually there. Global News reports that Hogan said PHAC “has no idea whether three-quarters of people who arrived by air earlier this year obeyed the requirement to quarantine at government-authorized hotels as part of the enforcement effort to limit the spread” of the corona virus. “Though the Public Health Agency of Canada improved its results, Read more
I knew something was wrong. But I didn’t expect this. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. this week moved France and Portugal to level four, the highest risk category on its travel health notices website page. As of Tuesday, the CDC travel site lists France and Portugal in level four, which indicates a “very high” level of COVID-19. The other three levels used by the CDC are “high,” “moderate,” and “low.” The Canadian government travel advisory site has four categories, “avoid all travel, ” “avoid non-essential travel,” “exercise a high degree of caution,” and “exercise normal Read more
