U.S. tour boat operator David Kay is frustrated. He said he’s prohibited from entering Canadian waters in the St. Lawrence River, yet he continually sees Canadian tour boats travel along the same river into U.S. waters.
“We can’t go over there and they can come over here,” said Kay, owner of Clayton Island Tours in Clayton, N.Y. “It’s kind of an unfair advantage.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada and the U.S. have agreed to shut their shared land border to non-essential traffic, which includes recreational boating.
But some U.S. commercial tour boat operators in the St. Lawrence — who are now prohibited from entering Canadian waters — say their Canadian counterparts don’t face similar restrictions.
“I have no problem with Canadian boats coming into the U.S. waters,” said Ron Thomson, owner of Uncle Sam Boat Tours in Alexandria Bay, N.Y. But he said Canada should also let in U.S. tour boats — as long as no one docks and passengers don’t disembark.
“What [COVID-19] threat do my boats pose by coming into Canada and then going back to my docks?” he said.
Clayton Island Tours offers a two-nation tour of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, but it has had to be curtailed because the company’s boats currently can’t enter Canadian waters. (Clayton Island Tours/Facebook)
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York agrees. In a statement earlier this month, he said he sent a letter to the Canadian government asking it to relax its boating restrictions.
Schumer said many U.S. boaters have recently reported facing fines when crossing to the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence.
Americans caught entering Canadian waters for tourism face up to six months in jail and/or fines of up to $750,000.
Schumer said U.S. boaters sailing through Canadian waters pose no health risks and that the rules aren’t reciprocal, as U.S. authorities still allow Canadian vessels to pass through U.S. waters.
“That type of uneven enforcement puts U.S. boaters — especially tour companies — at a disadvantage and does nothing to protect Canadians from COVID-19 spread,” the Senate minority leader said.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York wants the Canadian government to relax its boating restrictions and allow U.S. boaters to enter Canadian waters as long as they do so safely. (Eric Thayer/Reuters)
However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told CBC News that the rules are even because Canadian tour boats actually aren’t allowed to enter U.S. waters.
“Traversing U.S. waters for recreational purposes is deemed non-essential and therefore not authorized due to the current travel restrictions,” CBP spokesperson Mike Niezgoda said in an email.
Confusion over rules
But U.S. tour operators Kay and Thomson said they see two Ontario-based tour boat companies — Gananoque Boat Line and Rockport Boat Line — take Canadian passengers on tours multiple times a day along the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence River.
“People on [my] boat see the Canadian boat go by and say, ‘Well why can they come here if we can’t go there?'” Kay said. “We can’t really give an answer.”
Gananoque Boat Line — based in Gananoque, Ont., near Kingston — declined to comment and referred CBC News to Transport Canada.
Transport Canada responded in an email that it “respects the authority of U.S. officials regarding vessels entering their waters.”
David Kay, who operates Clayton Island Tours, says one of his tour boat’s captains took this photo of a boat with Ontario-based tour company Rockport Boat Line while is was sailing in U.S. waters on Wednesday. (Submitted by David Kay)
Rockport Boat Line, based in Rockport, Ont., confirmed to CBC News that it’s still sailing to the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence and said that it has permission to do so.
Company president Kathleen Allen stated in an email that Rockport’s tour boat is considered a commercial vessel, not a recreational boat, and that U.S. CBP told her the vessel could travel — without stopping — in U.S. waters.
“We are not ‘crossing into the U.S.’ as in some kind of border crossing,” Allen said. ‘We are travelling nonstop through U.S. waters.”
When CBC News asked U.S. CBP about Allen’s statement, it reiterated its policy that tour boats cannot enter the U.S. at this time. The agency said it’s constantly on the lookout for trespassers and that boaters who break the rules could face fines or expulsion.
CBP said it couldn’t immediately provide information on how many Canadians have been fined for entering U.S. waters since the border closure began in March.
A compromise?
Back in Clayton, N.Y., tour operator Kay said he hopes his Canadian counterparts will continue to sail in U.S. waters.
“I’m not trying to shut them down. I’m trying to open it up for us.”
In Schumer’s letter to the Canadian government, he proposed that Canada grant U.S. boaters pre-clearance to enter Canadian waters, as long as they adhere to safety rules such as wearing masks and not docking.
“Such a system … would not increase the risk of COVID-19 spread to Canadians,” he wrote.
But, at least for now, Canada is sticking to its current travel restrictions for U.S. boaters.
“These are unprecedented times, and the measures imposed were done so in light of potential public health risks,” Canada Border Services Agency said in an email.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
