A total of 1,790 people entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic have received special ministerial permission to skip quarantine — because their trip was deemed in the national interest.
The bulk of the exemptions — 84 per cent — were granted to professional sports league players and staff, and 15 per cent were given to business travellers.
When Canada closed its borders to non-essential travel in late March, it required incoming travellers to quarantine for 14 days as a safety precaution.
Many essential workers are exempt from the requirement.
And, under federal rules, three ministers — Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino — have the power to exempt visitors from quarantine, if their case is “in the national interest.”
The ministers’ quarantine exemptions are made in consultation with the Public Health Agency of Canada and local health authorities. Those exempt must follow mandated health measures such as mask wearing and physical distancing.
The government hasn’t publicly defined what type of cases qualify as being “in the national interest.” As a result, the quarantine exemptions have sparked concerns about the approval process.
“Just to say something’s in the national interest is not good enough,” said Jack Harris, MP for St. John’s East and the NDP’s public safety critic. “It’s a matter of judgment and the question is, is the judgment being exercised properly?”
CBC News asked each of the three ministers’ departments — Global Affairs, Immigration, and Public Safety — for details about their national interest quarantine exemptions, including why they were granted.
Global Affairs exemptions
Global Affairs said the department has granted 273 quarantine exemptions.
The vast majority — 265 — were “business mobility exemptions” which were given to business travellers to do specific work or tasks in Canada “deemed to be in the national interest,” said spokesperson Ciara Trudeau in an email.
“They have to thoroughly justify the immediacy of their purpose of travel to Canada.”
The approval process was called into question after CBC News reported that Global Affairs granted a quarantine exemption to UPS executive Nando Cesarone for a business trip to Toronto in October.
Nando Cesarone, president of U.S. operations for UPS, travelled from Atlanta to Toronto in October and spent three days meeting with Canadian employees. (Charles Platiau/Reuters)
Cesarone, the president of U.S. operations for global shipping giant UPS, used the business trip to lobby Ontario employees to accept the company’s new contract offer.
The workers’ union said it was mystified why Cesarone was allowed to enter Canada and skip quarantine.
“We believe the government needs to explain itself on that one,” said Christopher Monette, public affairs director for Teamsters Canada.
Global Affairs declined to comment, citing the federal Privacy Act.
WATCH | UPS executive given exemption to Canada’s quarantine:
CBC News has learned that a UPS executive is among the 191 business travellers who received a special ministerial exemption to Canada’s mandatory 14-day quarantine period. 2:14
In regards to the reasons behind its 265 “business mobility exemptions,” Global Affairs initially provided only a general explanation, citing the Privacy Act.
After CBC News pressed for more information, spokesperson Trudeau said the exemptions were granted to individuals in industries such as film, aerospace, manufacturing and energy “to support Canadian jobs and Canada’s economic recovery.”
She said 250 of the exemptions were granted to licensed pilots and aerospace workers, some of whom needed to enter Canada for training. For others, she said, their presence was “contractually required to finalize the sale and delivery of a Canadian-built aircraft.”
Sports gave ‘Canadians some ‘normalcy”
Immigration Minister Mendicino’s office said he has granted quarantine exemptions for 1,503 professional athletes and staff with the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball.
The soccer and baseball players entered Canada for training only. The NHL, which hosted games in Canada, segregated players and staff from the general public in controlled zones — known as “bubbles.”
“Within strict health and safety constraints, these exemptions were granted to support economic growth and recovery, and to give Canadians some ‘normalcy’ during an incredibly difficult time,” said Alexander Cohen, press secretary to Minister Mendicino.
National Hockey League players were among those who received quarantine exemptions from Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino’s department. (Getty Images)
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair’s office said he has granted quarantine exemptions to 14 people. Recipients included three employees in the shipbuilding industry and five American General Motors representatives engaged in contract talks to ratify a new agreement for Ontario workers.
The workers’ union, Unifor, told CBC News the in-person contract negotiations were necessary and that COVID-19 safety precautions were taken.
Compassionate exemptions
To be sure, the number of national interest exemptions is small compared with how many essential workers and others have entered Canada since March without being required to quarantine. That number totals more than five million, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.
However, giving exemptions to business executives does rankle Chris McDonald, who feels he had to fight to see his brother before he died.
On Oct. 8, the federal government loosened its travel restrictions to allow some travellers in quarantine to temporarily break it for compassionate reasons, such as visiting a dying relative.
Dean McDonald, left, died of terminal cancer on Oct. 20. His brother Chris McDonald, right, got approval to break quarantine and visit Dean just days before his medically assisted death. (Submitted by Chris McDonald)
The day after the rule change, Chris McDonald — who lives in California — applied for a quarantine exemption to immediately visit his terminally ill brother Dean in Winnipeg.
After repeated follow-up calls and emails to the government, and sharing his story with CBC News, McDonald got approval on Oct. 15 — just days before his brother passed away.
“That was very, very stressful, very frustrating, and really a lot of heartache because I felt like I might not get to see my brother,” he said.
McDonald said he was disappointed to hear about the UPS executive who got to skip quarantine for a business trip.
“Everything that he did could have been done over Zoom,” suggested McDonald. “I had to be there with my brother to … hold his hand, be by his side.”
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
