An agreement between Canada and the U.S. to close the border to all non-essential travel amid the coronavirus pandemic will be extended by another 30 days, the prime minister announced on Saturday.
The mutual agreement, which was put in place last month, was set to expire on April 21.
“Canada and the United States have agreed to extend by another 30 days the border measures that are currently in place,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his daily update on the country’s COVID-19 response.
“This is an important decision and one that will keep people on both sides of the border safe.”
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The prime minister previously announced new funding on Friday for parts of the economy that were hit particularly hard by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of $4.2 billion was slated across several programs for sectors like the oil and gas industry, start-up businesses and the arts.
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The federal government would be providing more than $2 billion in financial support for the oil and gas industry in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan primarily, with the funding going toward cleaning contaminated sites and meeting new federal regulations.
On Thursday, Trudeau also acknowledged the virus’ devastating trail across Canadian nursing homes, warning that the fallout of reopening the economy as of now would be “absolutely disastrous.”
Outbreaks in long-term care homes across the country have resulted in seniors being the hardest-hit group.
The prime minister said he would start considering additional supports for provinces to deal with the outbreaks, with Quebec now slated to receive 125 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members this weekend to help support health-care workers dealing with deaths and staff shortages from the virus.
More to come…
— With files from the Canadian Press
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