While provincial governments move to reopen economies and relax some restrictions imposed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions and mandatory self-isolation policies remain in place in the eastern provinces and northern territories.
Here’s what you need to know about the travel policies in each province and territory.
B.C.
While the province hasn’t implemented border checkpoints, the government is still asking residents to avoid non-essential travel over the B.C.-Alberta border.
The B.C. government website does note, however, that Highway 77 is closed in both directions at Petitot River Bridge (4 km south of the border between British Columbia and the Northwest Territories). The road is closed to non-essential travel.
For travellers heading into Yukon via Highway 97 or Highway 37, crossings are limited to essential travel only.
Alberta
Alberta has no border checkpoints or travel restrictions, but non-essential travel outside the province is not recommended.
However, the Northwest Territories government has tweaked its checkpoint program at the N.W.T.-Alberta border allowing Albertans to obtain access passes to the Fort Smith, N.W.T. area.
Plaques on wall in Lloydminster designating the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, including provincial emblems. (Trevor Bothorel/CBC)
Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan government had imposed travel restrictions on northern Saskatchewan but the government has since lifted those restrictions.
Residents are advised to limit any non-essential travel outside of Saskatchewan, with the exception of people who live in border communities and are commuting for work.
It is not mandatory that Sask residents self-isolate for 14 days upon their return from an out of province trip.
Manitoba
The province hadn’t closed its interprovincial borders, but it had established information checkpoints at provincial border crossings — four entering from Saskatchewan and one from Ontario — to inform travellers of the risk of COVID-19.
Watch: Families worry about Manitoba’s restrictions for travellers
As Manitoba enters Phase 3 of its reopening plan, the province will drop its mandatory two-week self-isolation period for some visitors. Much of northern Ontario is still subject to self-isolation rules. 2:07
However, it has since begun easing up on those checkpoints.
The province is also dropping its mandatory two-week self-isolation period for some visitors.
Travellers coming from Western Canada, the territories, or part of northwestern Ontario (west of Terrace Bay) can enter Manitoba without self-isolating, as long as they don’t have symptoms or known exposure to COVID-19.
Ontario
There are no travel restrictions in Ontario.
Quebec
The province had set up roadblocks in some areas to contain the spread of COVID-19 but those have since been removed.
Members of Quebec’s provincial police force talk to the driver of a recreational vehicle near the border of the United States in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, south of Montreal on March 28, 2020. The Canada-U.S. border remains closed to non-essential vehicle traffic. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
At present, access is allowed to all regions of the province, with the exception of the following territories:
The Cree Territory of James Bay.
Nunavik.
The government, still, is requesting that travel be limited from one region to another or from one city to another.
New Brunswick
N.B. Premier Blaine Higgs said he is expecting a travel bubble to open between New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador in early July. Such a bubble would allow for travel among the provinces without the need to self-isolate for 14 days.
N.B. could open to the rest of Canada by mid-July, as long as officials can continue to manage the spread of COVID-19, he said.
In the meantime, all unnecessary travel into New Brunswick is still prohibited, and peace officers are authorized to turn anyone away when they attempt to enter.
Anyone authorized to enter at any point of entry must stop and and answer questions by a peace officer. Travellers who will be staying in the province must then self-isolate for 14 days.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs expects to see a travel bubble between Atlantic provinces by early July. (Government of New Brunswick/Submitted)
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil is also hoping for the Atlantic bubble to open in early July. And the province could be opened to the rest of the country by mid- to late-July.
In the meantime, the province has implemented checkpoints at every major entry point into the province and anyone entering is stopped and questioned.
Highways, airports and ferry terminals are being monitored, with staff telling travellers to self-isolate for 14 days, no matter where they’re coming from.
Some travellers are exempt from the self-isolation rules, including truckers, medical staff and other essential personnel.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball said he is open to allow the free flow of people between the Atlantic provinces, and officials are working out the details of a regional bubble.
Until then, non-residents are banned from coming into the province, unless they have an exemption. Anyone entering the province is required to isolate for 14 days.
P.E.I.
P.E.I Premier Dennis King said he believes it’s still too early to give a specific date when the Atlantic travel bubble will come into effect. However, he said his focus is on that plan, rather than when his province can open to the rest of Canada.
Meanwhile, P.E.I. remains closed to non-residents, allowing only health-care providers and essential workers, such as truck drivers delivering goods, to cross the Confederation Bridge.
Any residents who have travelled within Canada or internationally are ordered to self-isolate for 14 days upon returning.
The Confederation Bridge into P.E.I. is closed to all but essential traffic. (Rick Gibbs/CBC)
Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories
All three territories have had active public health orders prohibiting non-essential travel from the rest of Canada.
In Yukon, non-residents are allowed to travel through the territory on their way to other destinations. And on July 1, Yukon will be opening its border with B.C.
However, the territory, because it’s opening its border with B.C., will not be part of a northern travel bubble with the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Residents of Nunavut and N.W.T. can now travel freely between the territories without having to self-isolate when they return.
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
