The one-year anniversary of the quasi-shutdown of the Canada-U.S. border will come and go next week, with no end in sight to disruptions that have affected lives, businesses, and communities touching the world’s so-called longest undefended frontier.
Once again, the tightening will be extended on March 21 for another month as it has every month since the pandemic crashed onto this continent last year.
Once again, the people most affected will wonder what the plan is for reopening and what sorts of public-health stats would allow regular travel to resume.
The truth is: There is no plan.
Conversations with officials in both countries in recent days revealed that, even as vaccinations ramp up, neither government has defined what it will take to reopen the border.
They say there’s no secret document laying out such benchmarks — such as, for example, the number of vaccine doses required for a return to normal, or the number of coronavirus cases reported.
The official line remains that it’s still too soon to talk about reopening because the virus remains a serious threat. There are still too few vaccinated people; case levels are still concerning; virus variants pose unknown perils.
The border restrictions have hit some communities hard. Seen here, on the day of the initial border clampdown on Marc 21, 2020, are houses across a bridge spanning the border in Lubec, Maine. (John Morris/Reuters)
“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said one Canadian official, who asked to remain anonymous.
“In the near term, however, people should expect the border measures [to continue].”
What that means is an extension of the spotty new status quo for cross-border travel — which has dropped about 90 per cent, though freer movement is allowed for certain workers, and certain humanitarian reasons, and certain modes of transport.
U.S. lawmakers eye White House proposal
But there’s a push for greater long-term clarity. In the terminology of the financial world, what some are asking for is forward guidance to help people plan.
Among those demanding details are two dozen members of the U.S. Congress from border states. They wrote to U.S. President Joe Biden requesting a plan for reopening the border, in gradual phases, tied to public-health metrics.
One leader of that initiative is Brian Higgins, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Buffalo, N.Y.
Brian Higgins, a member of the U.S. Congress from Buffalo, N.Y., has been demanding clarity on the border reopening policy since last year. He now says he’s hoping to see a gradual reopening from May to July. (U.S. Congress via AP)
In an interview last week in his office, Higgins reflected on the ties between countries. He pointed to an acoustic guitar in his office and noted that he’d just been playing a Gordon Lightfoot tune; he reminisced about how easy it used to be, in the old days, before the border tightened with the Sept. 11 attacks, to drive across to Ontario, park his car, and go for a jog along the waterfront.
U.S. lawmaker wants border partly reopened by end of May
Higgins doesn’t want these restrictions lingering much longer. His goal: to have the border partly reopened by U.S. Memorial Day, May 31, then fully reopened by July 4, under certain health-related conditions.
“I don’t see any reason why loved ones who have been separated for a year; property owners; people that live in Buffalo that own a cottage in Crystal Beach, Ont.; business owners — why shouldn’t they be able to cross the border safely,” he said.
“So long as they certify that they’re going to do certain things: Certify that you’ve been vaccinated, certify that you’re going to wear a mask, certify that you’re going to practice good physical distancing.”
WATCH | This U.S. congressman wants the border open by July 4:
Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins told Power & Politics that, with vaccines on the horizon, he’d like to see U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau work toward opening the U.S.-Canada border by the Fourth of July. 2:24
Higgins has been talking to the Biden administration as it works on its own policy as part of an executive order signed on the president’s first full day in office.
The White House policy is weeks behind schedule. However, Higgins hopes the new administration might be able to draft up some ideas soon and propose them to Canada.
Human relationships have been upended as a result of the extended closure. Seen here is Marie Filuk of White Rock, B.C., visiting her son and grandchildren, who live in Bellingham, Wash., on Mother’s Day 2020 along the Canada-U.S. border. (Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)
Canadian officials aren’t actually rejecting the notion of a phased reopening from May to July; they’re just calling such reopening talk premature.
Some members of one critical Canadian industry — the auto sector — are growing impatient.
Auto sector gets angry: ‘It is chaos’
They say Canada’s industry risks damaging itself at a critical moment, as parts companies across the continent compete to obtain contracts during the shift to new supply chains in the updated NAFTA, and the evolution to electric vehicles.
One auto-parts company chairman, Rob Wildeboer of Martinrea International, said it’s actually getting harder now to cross the border than it was early in the pandemic.
He said some executives or technicians get sent into quarantine when they enter Canada, and some don’t, and that sometimes the rules are applied differently on the same day at the same border crossing.
Canadian auto-parts company Martinrea says it wants greater clarity. It says the travel rules are applied unclearly and unevenly and it’s hurting Canadian companies competing against rival U.S. suppliers. Seen here, in 2017, is a Vaughan, Ont., facility of Martinrea’s Alfield Industries subsidiary. (Fred Thornhill/Reuters)
“It is chaos. It is chaos, and it’s uncertainty,” Wildeboer said in an interview.
“Everyone in our industry is confused.… If we had a meeting of all the members of the auto industry today, like this afternoon, and we had an hour, we’d spend 55 minutes talking about the border.”
He said border guards lack clear guidance from Ottawa, and it’s hurting Canadian parts companies, who are competing against American rivals whose staff and executives can travel freely to meet their U.S. customers.
His industry is pleading for Ottawa to, at least in the short term, recognize auto employees as essential, so that they don’t wind up in quarantine.
But Flavio Volpe of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association said repeated attempts to get Public Safety Minister Bill Blair to talk went unanswered, as did a letter sent five months ago.
“That’s very frustrating,” Volpe said last Monday.
The association can meet with the prime minister, deputy prime minister, Mexican cabinet members, White House officials, but can’t reach Blair, he said.
“I can get a hold of the White House — but not Public Safety. … [It’s] crazy.”
Days later, following a request for comment from CBC News, Blair’s office said the minister and his representatives had just spoken with auto-industry figures in recent days; Volpe confirmed Blair had recently reached out.
Volpe said the government has a responsibility to shed some light on its longer-term plans: “Show us the road map, just like the provinces got a road map on how they go from red to orange to yellow.”
This is what some U.S. lawmakers, including Higgins, tried pushing for last year: clarity on how a phased-in reopening would work.
But the idea was rebuffed and Higgins’ social-media feed was inundated with ridicule from a number of Canadians. Higgins now says he doesn’t blame Canadians for that reaction.
Cross-border traffic into Canada is down 90 per cent during the pandemic. Travel is allowed for certain workers, and for certain humanitarian reasons. The restrictions are noted here on U.S. customs vehicles, at the border crossing at the Thousand Islands Bridge in Ontario last fall. (Lars Hagberg/Reuters)
At the time, the U.S. was in the midst of a devastating second wave of COVID-19 cases, and the country’s COVID-19 death rate is still nearly three times higher than Canada’s.
He blames the former Trump administration for not taking the virus seriously enough and for not engaging Canada earlier.
American outlook brightening fast
Now the tide is turning.
Vaccination rates are surging in the U.S. Biden has said he expects enough vaccines for every American by May 31 and hopes life might be close to normal by Independence Day, July 4.
This year has been particularly disruptive in border communities.
In Massena, N.Y., across from Cornwall, Ont., the town supervisor said the absence of Canadians has been felt in places like the nearby Malone, N.Y., ski resort.
“No Canadian traffic — it hurts a lot,” Steven O’Shaughnessy said.
He said people in his community just keep hearing — month after month — about shutdown extensions, but never about the longer-term plan.
Border communities anxiously await news
Across the border, the mayor of Cornwall referred to the human impact, recounting the story of one woman across the border who struggled to be with her dying mother in Cornwall.
“Those are the things that hit home,” said Bernadette Clement.
One thing people are hungry for, she said, is information.
“I think it’s not clear,” Clement said.
“We’re at the point where we’re thinking [reopening is] going to happen sometime this year, potentially. Except we don’t know what the metrics are.… What’s the process?”
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
