Despite Canada’s advisory not to travel abroad during the pandemic, snowbirds have been able to easily book flights and head south.
But now those snowbirds face major hurdles returning home, thanks to tough new travel measures announced by the federal government on Friday. Soon, air passengers will be required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and spend up to three days of their 14-day quarantine in a designated hotel — which could cost them upwards of $2,000.
“I’m not going to pay $2,000 a person for three nights. That’s ridiculous,” said Canadian snowbird Claudine Durand, 50, of Lachine, Que., who’s spending the winter in Florida.
Other snowbirds agree, which is why some of them are attempting to find ways around the rules — either by prolonging their stay or attempting to rush home before the new measures kick-in.
Canadian snowbird Joe Lynn of Milton, Ont., is hoping to beat the clock.
He and his wife had planned to stay at their rented condo in Barra de Navidad, a small town on the western coast of Mexico, until the end of March. But a day after learning about the coming travel rules, they booked a flight home for Wednesday.
Canadian snowbird Joe Lynn and his wife are staying in Mexico as they wait for the federal government to announce when it will implement a new hotel quarantine rule. (Submitted by Joe Lynn)
“Four-thousand dollars is a lot of money, andwho knows if it stops there? Is it $4,000 plus HST?” Lynn, 68, said about the hotel fee, which he calculated for two people. “I’m on a pension.”
Adding to Lynn’s sense of urgency is the prospect of dwindling flights. Prompted by the government, Canada’s major airlines have cancelled all flights to Mexico and the Caribbean beginning Sunday through to April 30.
Although he managed to book a flight home with a Mexican airline, Lynn is still unsure if he’s in the clear, as he doesn’t know when the hotel quarantine rule will take effect. The federal government only offered a vague timeline on Friday, stating that the rule will be implemented “as soon as possible in the coming weeks.”
“No idea what’s going to happen. … They could put me straight into a hotel” after arriving in Canada, said Lynn.
He said he understands why Ottawa has imposed strict new rules to discourage travel, as highly contagious variant COVID-19 strains continue their global spread.
But Lynn feels it’s unfair to impose those rules on travellers who left the country before they were announced. He argues that the added hotel stay should apply only to people who choose to travel abroad now and are aware of the repercussions.
“Why not just pick a date and say, ‘These are the rules from this date?'” Lynn said. “If you want to go out and you want to come back and pay two grand or more, at least you know in advance.”
Should I stay or should I go?
Not all snowbirds are rushing home. Some instead plan to extend their stay at their sun destination, in hopes that the new travel rules will be lifted by the time they return to Canada. Typically, Canadian snowbirds can spend about six months abroad without facing repercussions, such as losing their provincial health coverage.
Travel insurance broker Martin Firestone said the majority of his snowbird clients who travelled to the U.S. Sunbelt this winter have contacted him to extend their medical insurance so they can stay longer at their destination.
“They have no desire to stay in a Motel 6 for three days at $2,000 per person,” said Firestone, of Travel Secure in Toronto. “Their attitude was, ‘Wouldn’t it be wiser to stay down and walk on the beach?'”
That’s the attitude of Canadian snowbird Claudine Durand, who’s spending the winter with her husband in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. They came to Florida in December and shipped their RV across the border with plans to drive it home at the end of March.
WATCH | Ottawa brings in new quarantine rules to discourage international travel:
Ottawa isn’t banning non-essential travel; it’s making it as inconvenient and expensive as possible. Now, in addition to existing requirements, returning travellers will need to quarantine in a hotel for three days at their own expense, at a likely cost of at least $2,000. 2:33
At this point, it’s unclear if the federal government will also impose a hotel stay for travellers entering Canada by land.
But if it does, Durand said she and her husband will remain in Florida for as long as they can, in the hopes of avoiding the hotel fee.
“Two-thousand dollars per person in a hotel room? I’ll pay that to stay in Florida for an extra month.”
Derek and Susan Houghton of Ottawa plan to stay put in Florida until they can travel home without having to face hurdles, such as a pricey quarantine stay in a hotel back in Canada. (Submitted by Derek Houghton)
Canadian snowbird Derek Houghton of Ottawa has a similar plan. He and his wife, Susan, are scheduled to fly home in March for medical appointments and then return to their winter home in Sarasota, Fla.
But now that the couple face a looming hotel bill among other travel measures, they’ve decided to remain in Florida for now.
“That’s too big a hill to climb,” said Houghton, who’s set to return home for good in April. But if the hotel rule is still in place by then, he said he can extend his trip by another month, in the hopes that he’s in the clear by then.
“It’s like being confined in paradise for an extra month.”
Houghton said he also hopes that Canada’s strict travel restrictions will be lifted at an earlier date for someone like him, who already received the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida.
“People like us who have a vaccination certificate from the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], why wouldn’t we get a break on some of these onerous regulations?”
Currently, travellers who have been vaccinated abroad are still subject to Canada’s quarantine rules.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
