Canada to scrap border vaccine mandate and make ArriveCan optional
Canada is set to do away with Covid-19 vaccine requirements for incoming travellers and make ArriveCan optional by the end of the month.
According to The Globe and Mail, sources familiar with cabinet conversations say that the changes will take place on Sept. 30.
Following the changes, unvaccinated travellers will be able to enter Canada freely without having to attest their vaccination status or be required to quarantine in the case of permanent residents and Canadian citizens.
However, at the direction of Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, the mask mandate for trains and planes will remain.
It is unclear whether the United States has plans to lift its own border vaccine mandate.
For months, the Liberals have been facing criticism for maintaining vaccine mandates and burdening travellers with the ArriveCan requirement.
Deputy Conservative leader and former transport critic Melissa Lantsman has been demanding that the federal government dropped the application as a requirement as early as July.
“People do not want to come, and the regulations are certainly redundant,” said Lantsman.
“These kinds of things say Canada is closed for business and when we have that coupled with a transportation network that just isn’t conducive to the potential in this area, we have a recipe for disaster.”
The CEO of the Canadian American Business Council has recently stated that the application and remaining mandates were threatening the “seamless integration” between Canada and the US.
“We’ve got to get to the place where Canadians and Americans are travelling back and forth, seeing family, having fun, but also doing business together,” said CEO Maryscott Greenwood.
“That’s really been a huge hallmark of our relationship, the seamless integration of our economies and of our people. That’s at risk right now.”
The Trudeau government has also faced pressure from communities that border the US who have been impacted by the reduced flow of people crossing into Canada.
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