While the Canadian government has implemented strong measures to ensure fully vaccinated foreign travellers coming into Canada won’t be a significant source of COVID-19 spread, those protections will certainly not eliminate the risk, medical experts say.
“Certainly the optics aren’t ideal, as we are in a fourth wave and cases continue to climb across the country,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist and member of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine task force.
Under the measures, travellers must be fully vaccinated with a Canadian-approved vaccine at least 14 days prior to arriving and have received a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their scheduled flight or their arrival at a land border crossing — requirements that, while not perfect, are “very very good” at ensuring people coming don’t have COVID-19, Bogoch said.
“It’s not foolproof, it’s not a hermetically sealed border, we’ll still have cases of COVID introduced. It’s just going to be fewer than if we had no protection whatsoever,” he said.
On Tuesday, Canada opened its borders to fully vaccinated non-essential foreign travellers from across the globe, allowing them to skip the 14-day quarantine requirement. Canada is currently in the midst of a fourth wave of COVID-19 fuelled by the delta variant. However, most of the country’s cases and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated.
Low test positivity rate at border
According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the volume of travellers has increased in recent months, but the border test positivity rate for COVID-19 has remained low. For example, between Aug. 9 and 26, the positivity rate for fully vaccinated travellers randomly selected for testing at border crossings was 0.19 per cent (112 positive tests out of 58,878 completed), the CBSA said.
Still, Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious diseases expert at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, expressed concern that the federal government formulated the open border policy for foreign travellers back in early July, when the delta variant wasn’t as much of an issue in Canada.
Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious diseases expert at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, says Ottawa formulated the open border policy for foreign travellers in early July, when the delta variant wasn’t as much of an issue in Canada. (Submitted by Sandra Sciangula)
Vinh said that plan was based on the assumption that those fully vaccinated were not only protected from infection but would not be a major source of transmission. Instead, the delta variant has shown that fully vaccinated people can still be infected and still transmit the virus, he said.
Meanwhile, the full rate of breakthrough cases — those in which a person has been infected despite being fully vaccinated — is still unknown, he said.
“If we had no or low rates of community transmission right now, you could argue that our perhaps more relaxed approach could be acceptable,” Vinh said. “We already have high, high, high rates of transmission across the country. So now what we don’t want to do is be literally adding fuel to the fire.”
The government has introduced special requirements for travellers arriving from India or Morocco. Due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, all direct passenger flights from India have been suspended until Sept. 21 and from Morocco until Sept. 29. Currently, air passengers from those countries can only enter Canada if they show proof of a negative test taken in a different country and depart from that country to come to Canada.
‘Viruses do cross borders’
Dr. Marek Smieja, scientific director of McMaster HealthLabs and a professor of pathology and molecular medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, suggested there should be some concern about the potential of imported variants. He noted that the alpha and delta variants were both imported into Canada from abroad.
“Viruses do cross borders. And the question is: What’s the most prudent way of allowing a reasonable amount of travel?” he said. “There’s no doubt there will be new variants.”
A technician administers the COVID-19 PCR test in Miami. Foreign travellers need a PCR test before coming into Canada. (Marta Lavandier/The Associated Press)
But the best protection is to eliminate the domestic cases, so if the local COVID-19 levels are very low, health officials will recognize new variants coming in, he said.
“The way you pay attention to imported diseases to get rid of local disease,” Smieja said. “I would love to get to the point with COVID where the only cases you see are imported outbreaks.”
The federal government’s measures, in terms of what’s practical, are a “pretty reasonable reassurance” that foreign travellers will be a very low risk, he said.
In terms of potential exposure to COVID, a foreign traveller who’s fully vaccinated and tested coming into Canada is likely safer than those many people encounter on a daily basis, Smieja said.
Neighbour poses higher risk
“I would argue that the neighbour in the supermarket who isn’t wearing their mask properly above their nose and actually hasn’t been vaccinated is a higher risk than the person crossing a border,” Smieja said. “I actually think it is a prudent thing to be making it easier for people to travel, particularly for those who are fully vaccinated.”
Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and an associate professor at McMaster University, agreed that it’s more important to focus on the pandemic’s domestic situation.
WATCH | Travel protections to Canada are strong but not perfect, says specialist:
International travel protections to Canada are strong but not perfect, says specialist
There are strong layers of protection to stop the transmission of COVID-19 from international travellers entering Canada, but the country should also focus on getting more vulnerable Canadians vaccinated, says Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist in Toronto. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press) 1:32
With foreign travellers, he said, there’s always going to be a risk, and some breakthrough cases, but the government has come up with a good compromise.
“The bottom line is we are going to have to do this at some point in time, and there will be another variant. The world is not completely immunized by any means,” Chagla said.
“We’re taking a calculated risk, we’re following data … to see that, yes, no cases are being generated in Canada or not very many are being generated in Canada as a result of this [foreign traveller policy].”
Efforts to streamline operations have helped Suncor Energy Inc. hit its debt target, triggering a commitment to pay out 100 per cent of excess funds to shareholders.
The oil and gas giant has been working to make efficiency improvements across its sprawling network as it shifts focus to incremental gains over pricey expansion projects.
The efforts yielded upstream production of 829,000 barrels per day to mark its best third quarter ever, its highest ever refining throughput of 488,000 barrels per day and highest ever refined sales at 612,000 barrels per day.
“This is now back to back to back quarterly records,” said chief executive Rich Kruger on an earnings call Wednesday.
Suncor’s efforts to ease bottlenecks and cost improvements include everything from new maintenance techniques to its shift to bigger, autonomous trucks. They include spending $1 million to increase its base plant capacity to 100,000 barrels a day from 65,000, and spending $500,000 to increase Firebag production by between 6,000 and 10,000 barrels a day, with both creating upwards of $100 million of additional free funds flow per year, said Kruger.
The efforts also include everything down to the material in the totes it uses to receive additives in, said Dave Oldreive, executive vice-president of downstream.
“It sounds like a small thing. It’s worth $50,000 a year, not a big deal in the big scheme of things, but you add those up, we get 15,000 people in this company doing that, we’re going to continue to drive improvements.”
The higher production helped it earn $2.02 billion in its third quarter, up from $1.54 billion a year earlier.
It also helped Suncor reduce its debt by more than $1.4 billion in the quarter to achieve its net debt target of $8 billion ahead of many external forecasts, the company said. Hitting that triggered its commitment to pay out 100 per cent of excess funds to shareholders, up from 50 per cent at the start of the year.
Suncor returned $1.5 billion to shareholders in the quarter through share buybacks and dividends, while it boosted its dividend by five per cent to 57 cents per share.
The company is also tracking above the high end of its guidance on several measures so far in the fourth quarter, said Kruger, while the challenge next year will be to keep the improvements coming.
“What will be very key for us in 2025 too is holding the gains of 2024. We’ve made a lot of progress on cost, discipline, asset reliability and things. We’re trying to be sure whether we institutionalize those and don’t slip back at all.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…
Trump’s appointees have criticized Trudeau, warned of border issues with Canada
Donald Trump’s second administration is starting to take shape, and many of the people landing top jobs have been critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and security at Canada’s border. Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa and co-chair of the Expert Group on Canada-U.S. Relations, says there are not many friends to Canada in Trump’s camp yet. The president-elect tapped Mike Waltz to be national security adviser amid increasing geopolitical instability. Waltz has repeatedly slammed Trudeau on social media for his handling of issues related to China and recently said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was going to send Trudeau packing in the next Canadian election. New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump’s choice for ambassador to the United Nations, has expressed concerns on social media about security at the Canadian border.
Chrystia Freeland says carbon rebate for small businesses will be tax-free
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the Canada carbon rebate for small businesses will be tax-free. In a statement posted to X late Tuesday, Freeland clarified the parameters of the program after an advocacy group for small business raised concerns that the rebate would be a taxable benefit. Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, posted on X soon after that post that he had received a call from Freeland, who offered “assurance” that the rebate would be tax-free. In a letter to Freeland Nov. 6, the CFIB said it had initially been told by the Canada Revenue Agency the rebate would be tax-free, but was subsequently told by the Finance Department that the rebate was actually taxable. The Canada carbon rebate for small businesses was a measure introduced in this year’s federal budget, in which $2.5 billion of carbon price revenue would be paid back to some 600,000 small and medium-sized businesses.
Here’s what else we’re watching…
Warning to avoid sick birds amid rise of avian flu
Encounters with sick or dead birds are raising concerns after B.C.’s Health Ministry said the first suspected human case of bird flu contracted in Canada had been detected in the province. Provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry says it’s very likely the teenage patient was infected by exposure to a sick animal or something in the environment, but it’s a “real possibility” that the source is never determined. Henry says the virus is circulating in wild foul, including geese, and is advising that people avoid contact with any sick or dead birds. She says human-to-human transmission is uncommon, but people may be infected by inhaling the virus or in droplets that get into the eyes.
Mainstream porn’s ascent, and the price women pay
When legal scholar Elaine Craig started researching pornography, she knew little about websites such as Pornhub or xHamster — and she did not anticipate that the harsh scenes she would view would at times force her to step away. Four years later, the Dalhousie University law professor has published a book that portrays in graphic detail the rise of ubiquitous free porn, concluding it is causing harm to the “sexual integrity” of girls, women and the community at large. The 386-page volume, titled “Mainstreaming Porn” (McGill-Queen’s University Press), begins by outlining how porn-streaming firms claim to create “safe spaces” for adults to view “consensual, perfectly legal sex,” as their moderators — both automated and human — keep depictions of illegal acts off the sites. But as the 49-year-old professor worked through the topic, she came to question these claims. She says depictions of sex that find their way onto the platforms are far from benign.
Atwood weighs in on U.S. election at Calgary forum
Margaret Atwood is telling people not to be afraid after last week’s U.S. election, which delivered the Republicans’ Donald Trump another White House win. The renowned Canadian author says it’s not because something horrible isn’t happening, but because fear makes people feeble. The author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” has been called prescient, but she says she had no prediction for how the American vote would go. Many have drawn parallels between that 1985 dystopian novel, set in a totalitarian state where women are treated as property, and the recent rollback of reproductive rights south of the border. Atwood says the ideas for that book were inspired by things that were already happening, or the religious right was already discussing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is travelling to Bermuda today to give a eulogy at the funeral for businessman Peter Green.
Green was a lifelong family friend to Trudeau and, as reported by the National Post, his family owns a luxury estate in Jamaica where Trudeau has stayed at no cost.
Trudeau’s last holiday trip to the posh Caribbean locale stirred a raft of political controversy at the start of the year, which came as Canadians were tightening their belts due to the higher cost of living.
Parliament’s ethics watchdog ruled out investigating Trudeau’s repeat vacations at the island villa after establishing the two men were in fact close friends.
Former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau made headlines for his stays at the same estate dating back to at least the mid-1970s.
The prime minister is expected back in Ottawa later today, according to an itinerary published by his office.
The elder Trudeau was also godfather to Green’s son, Alexander, who spoke at his funeral on Oct. 3, 2000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
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