A Radio-Canada report says the Trudeau government could eliminate mandatory on-arrival testing within days. Their report says the Liberal government in Ottawa “plans to backtrack and return, quickly, to the establishment of random tests” for air passengers arriving in Canada. “The final decision has not yet been made, but, according to a federal source very close to the file, it is a matter of weeks, even days,” said Radio-Canada. Several tourism groups and a group that represents Canadian travel agents have recently called for an end to the government’s mandatory on-arrival testing, which was introduced late last year for passengers Read more
on-arrival testing
An influential group of Canadian travel agents is joining the chorus of those pushing for a change to Canada’s on-arrival PCR test program. “The Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) and its travel and tourism advocacy partners call on the federal government to lift the mandatory arrival testing and quarantine requirement for fully-vaccinated, asymptomatic travelers so these tests can be used to support Canada’s domestic testing needs,” the group said in a statement today (Friday, Jan. 20). “It is important that the Government of Canada remove these temporary measures – as well as others introduced over the past two years– Read more
Chief Medical Officers of Health for Air Canada, Toronto Pearson, and WestJet are calling on Canadian governments to shift PCR testing from airports to communities. In a letter to Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and senior health officials in the federal and Ontario governments, the health officers said tests are needed at the community level and not for travellers. “Over the last two months, Omicron has quickly become the predominant variant of COVID-19. As it spreads throughout our communities, we need to ensure Canada’s limited testing resources are being used where Canadians need them most—to support our communities, schools, hospitals Read more
There’s growing evidence that Canada is open to changing its on-arrival testing program for international air travellers. A prominent tourism and business group yesterday called for on-arrival tests to be scrapped, arguing they’re not necessary and that tests should be redeployed to help make up for test shortages in Canadian communities. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, said later in the day that the policy will be evaluated “over time.” “It is a capacity drain on the system as a whole,” she said, acknowledging the concerns raised by the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable group. “Tracking every case isn’t Read more
