Travellers coming into Canada by the land border can benefit from a one-time exemption if they forget to submit their information through the ArriveCan application, the National Post reports. Ottawa quietly made the change in May for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and extended it to all foreign nationals, including American citizens, at the end of the month of July, confirmed the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on Friday. CBSA spokesperson Judith Gadbois-St-Cyr told the Post the measures are “temporary” for fully vaccinated travellers and that the rules were changed to “provide more flexibility” to those “who may have been Read more
Trudeau
The federal government insists that Canada’s airports are getting much better in terms of delays and cancellations. Government officials put out a release this week saying that, for the week of August 1-7, three per cent of flights planned for Canada’s top four airports were cancelled, compared to 12% over the same period in July. From August 1-7, more than 85% of flights from the top four airports left on time, or within one hour of their scheduled departure. That’s up from 75% for the first week of July. OTHER METRICS Holding of aircraft at Toronto Pearson International Airport * Read more
Members of a House of Commons committee plan to meet Monday to discuss a request for a study of Canadian flight cancellations and airport delays. CTV News reports that members of the House of Commons Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Committee are scheduled to meet on Monday. “Throughout this the height of our travel season, the government has refused to listen to advocates, front-line workers and ordinary Canadians to make common-sense improvements to our country’s airports and scrap their continued measures leading to further delays,” said Conservative transport critic and committee vice-chair Melissa Lantsman, in an email to CTVNews.ca on Friday. Read more
The Trudeau government says it’s continuing to work at easing crowding and other problems at Canadian airports, and that senior officials met with Toronto Pearson Airport management this week. It doesn’t appear to be helping, as cancellations and delays remain about what they were a week ago. FlightAware.com reports 33 flights were cancelled at Pearson on Wednesday, roughly 5% of all flights. Another 242 departing flights were delayed, about 40%. It wasn’t a lot better at Montreal Trudeau, where seven flights (2%) were cancelled and 123 flights (39%) were delayed. Here’s a statement they issued today: The Minister of Transport, Read more
The Trudeau government says it’s making it easier for Canadians to get their passports renewed, or to acquire new ones. Lineups have been horrific in several major Canadian cities this summer as the demand for travel soars. But Ottawa says the government is taking solid action, including the use of mpre than 300 Service Canada Centres. “The recent increase in passport demand combined with the longer processing times have resulted in a growing number of Canadians requiring their passport applications be transferred to local passport offices for processing in order to get them in time to travel,” officials said. “This Read more
