It’s time to bid farewell to the ArriveCan app, say border-city mayors, tourism industry leaders and others who complain Canada’s stringent COVID-19 rules for international travellers are encouraging would-be U.S. visitors to spend their tourist dollars at home.
Two Ontario mayors whose cities depend on cross-border tourism — Sarnia’s Mike Bradley and Jim Diodati of Niagara Falls — urged the federal government Wednesday to stop requiring travellers to navigate a preclearance process many find frustrating and confusing.
“I learned a long time ago — I’ve been in politics a long time: when you’re riding a dead horse, dismount,” Bradley told a news conference in Ottawa.
“That’s what the federal government needs to do.”
Bradley, Diodati and Estelle Muzzi, mayor of the Quebec border community of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle south of Montreal, as well as advocates for duty-free store operators, say the rules are a drag on incidental cross-border visits, which they say are vital for their local economies.
Adding insult to injury, they say, is the fact that similar rules don’t exist for travellers entering the U.S., especially now that Ottawa is lifting the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for domestic and outbound international travel.
Canadian and foreign visitors aiming to enter Canada must continue to use the app or an online portal to submit their vaccination information to the Canada Border Services Agency ahead of time, a rule Diodati said has outlived its usefulness.
“We all supported the federal government with all the restrictions at the border; we stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them to make sure that we are safe,” he said.
“But the science is now telling us that having these restrictions at the border (is) no longer serving us. In the beginning, it was to keep the virus out — well, it’s clearly here. It’s not doing what it was originally intended to do.”
Richard Cannings, a New Democrat MP whose southern B.C. riding encompasses six separate Canada-U.S. border crossing points, said duty-free stores in those communities continue to see business that’s 95 per cent lower than it was before the pandemic.
“The NDP caucus especially has been very much in favour of restrictions to keep Canadians safe in travel and in their line of work,” Cannings said.
“But we have been calling for many months for a safe border task force, a safe border strategy that would bring together stakeholders to build a system that makes sense for all Canadians to keep us safe, but also keep businesses going.”
There was an absence of American voices from Wednesday’s news conference, a striking distinction from the bilateral appeals for eased restrictions that became a fixture of the pandemic last year.
That’s because U.S. communities and tourism operators are benefiting from the imbalance, because it encourages American travellers to stay put and spend their money closer to home, Bradley said.
“The Americans, and I give them credit, are great at their own self-interest,” he said.
Some U.S. lawmakers took full political advantage of the vaccine-mandate protests that snarled southbound cross-border traffic and trade earlier this year, arguing in favour of ramping up domestic manufacturing and supply chains, Bradley added.
“They were using it as an economic development tool to keep industries in their own country instead of coming here.”
Rep. Brian Higgins, the New York congressman who over the course of the pandemic became one of the most vocal proponents of eased travel restrictions, did surface later Wednesday to express solidarity with his Canadian cousins.
“I stand with municipal leaders and tourism agencies in calling for an end to the ArriveCan mandate,” Higgins said in a statement. Constituents frequently call his office, “frustrated and confused” by the constant changes in the requirements for crossing the border, he said.
“Consequently, to bypass the uncertainty and hassle it creates, many are avoiding making the trip across the border entirely. We have to get back to pre-pandemic U.S.-Canada border management.”
Martin Firestone, a travel insurance broker in Toronto who specializes in helping retirees spend the winter months in warmer climes like Florida, said the ArriveCan requirements are especially onerous for his older, less tech-savvy clients.
Many of them “don’t have a phone to do it on — and even if they can do it on a computer, nothing is simple about it; it serves no purpose,” Firestone said.
“You are asking too much from people to the point where they’re going to say, ‘You know what, it’s just not worth it.”‘
The government will “suspend” COVID-19 vaccine mandates for domestic and outbound international travellers, as well as federally regulated workers, effective Monday. Visiting foreign nationals must be vaccinated to avoid a 14-day quarantine and extensive testing requirements.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has acknowledged the ongoing complaints, saying Tuesday the government is working on “efficiencies” to make it less onerous. But it remains a valuable and necessary public health tool, Alghabra said.
Travel industry groups have blamed federal public health measures and mandates for slowdowns at airport customs that have contributed to long waits for passengers and forced flight delays and cancellations.
Those delays will only get worse now that the rules are changing for some travellers, but not all, Firestone warned.
“The airport stream is going to pick up significantly come Monday,” he said, including among Canadian travellers who don’t fully understand the international rules. “Watch what happens at the airport when they land and they don’t have their ArriveCan completed properly.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2022.
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CALGARY – Captain Mikael Backlund had a goal and assist to lead the Calgary Flames to a gritty 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
Jonathan Huberdeau with his team-leading sixth goal and Kevin Rooney, into an empty net, also scored for Calgary (8-5-3). The Flames have earned points in four straight games (2-0-2).
Trevor Moore scored the lone goal for Los Angeles (9-5-3), which lost in regulation for just the second time in the last seven (4-2-1).
Rookie netminder Dustin Wolf made 29 stops to improve to 5-2-1. He was 2:31 away from his first NHL shutout when Moore scored with the goalie pulled.
Darcy Kuemper, who faced 28 shots, was saddled with the loss to fall to 4-2-3.
TAKEAWAYS
Kings: The forward line of Phillip Danault between Moore and Kevin Fiala entered the game on a roll with Danault (1-5-6) and Moore (1-5-6) on matching five-game point streaks, but they were held off the scoresheet until 17:29 of the third period when it was Moore’s shot that, after video review, was ruled to have crossed the line, cutting the score to 2-1 and setting up a dramatic finish.
Flames: Entering Monday, only the San Jose Sharks (-14) had a worst first-period goal differential than Calgary (-9), but the home side turned in a much better opening 20 minutes on this night, outshooting Los Angeles 10-7 and generating a bunch of dangerous chances. While the period ended scoreless, the Flames rode that momentum into the second in which they scored twice, 36 seconds apart, to surge into the lead.
KEY MOMENT
Scoreless halfway through the game, Backlund finally broke the ice at 10:42 of the second when an errant Kings pass behind their own net popped out into the slot where Backlund pounced on it and in one motion whipped a rising shot into the far corner on Kuemper’s glove side.
KEY STAT
Calgary entered the night ranked 27th on the penalty kill and while they were only tested once, that one Los Angeles man advantage came with just over two minutes left, but despite the Kings pulling the goalie to go six skaters against four, they were unable to tie the game.
UP NEXT
Kings: Visit the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
Flames: Visit the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tyreek Hill caught a short touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa in the third quarter, and the Miami Dolphins snapped their three-game NFL losing streak with a gritty 23-15 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.
Rookie receiver Malik Washington rushed for his first NFL touchdown on the opening possession of a much-needed turnaround game for the beleaguered Dolphins (3-6), who had lost three games by a combined 10 points since their last victory on Oct. 6. Miami had lost six of seven since its opener, all but ruining a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations.
The Dolphins’ solid defence stepped up impressively at SoFi Stadium, forcing two turnovers and keeping the Rams out of the end zone despite yielding 327 yards.
Matthew Stafford passed for 293 yards and rookie Joshua Karty kicked five field goals for the Rams (4-5), whose three-game winning streak ended with a major offensive regression. Los Angeles failed to score a touchdown for only the eighth time in coach Sean McVay’s eight seasons, and it couldn’t score an offensive touchdown for only the second time in four years when Stafford was in uniform.
Tagovailoa passed for only 207 yards, but he made a series of big throws while the Dolphins converted six third downs, most of them at key moments. Tagovailoa was 9 of 12 for 137 yards on third downs alone.
Hill had three receptions while playing through a wrist injury, and Jason Sanders kicked three field goals.
After scoring 76 points in its three straight wins, Los Angeles failed to score a touchdown for the first time since Nov. 5, 2023, at Green Bay while Stafford was injured.
Puka Nacua had nine catches for 98 yards, and Cooper Kupp made seven receptions for 80 yards.
Miami needed less than three minutes to score first. After Tagovailoa hit Jaylen Waddle for 36 yards on third and long, Washington — a sixth-round pick from Virginia — took a pitch 18 yards for a score on his second career rushing attempt.
Los Angeles’ offence managed just 27 yards on its first five drives, and Stafford threw an interception in his sixth straight game when Anthony Walker Jr. dived to catch a tipped ball right before the first quarter ended.
Tagovailoa threw his first interception since Sept. 12 to Christian Rozeboom in the second quarter, but Kyren Williams fumbled on the Rams’ next play. Rams rookie Jared Verse sacked Tagovailoa and recovered the fumble at the Miami 36 four plays later, but the Rams could only manage a field goal.
After Karty missed a 57-yard field goal attempt when a false start wiped out his successful 52-yarder in the third quarter, the Dolphins drove from midfield for Hill’s 1-yard TD catch and a 17-6 lead.
Los Angeles drove to the Miami 4 in the fourth quarter, but McVay settled for a fourth field goal that made it a one-score game with 6:31 to play.
Miami’s Odell Beckham Jr. then made a key catch for a first down in the stadium where he badly injured his knee while winning the Super Bowl with the Rams three seasons ago, and the Dolphins drove for Sanders’ 50-yard field goal with 2:38 left.
It also meant that the Dolphins, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville didn’t combine to go 0-3 for a third consecutive week for what would have been the first time since Florida became a three-team NFL state in 1995.
The state’s FBS teams went 0-6 this weekend, and Florida’s three FCS schools all lost as well.
INJURIES
Dolphins: CB Kendall Fuller got hurt on the fourth play of the second half and went into the concussion protocol. … RT Austin Jackson (knee) went on injured reserve hours before kickoff. The Southern California product shouldn’t be out for the season, coach Mike McDaniel said.
Rams: With Rob Havenstein (ankle) sidelined, RT Joe Noteboom (ankle) started in his first appearance since the season opener, but struggled against Miami rookie Chop Robinson.
UP NEXT
Dolphins: Host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
Rams: Visit the New England Patriots on Sunday.
— AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
TORONTO – Canada must defend itself against an emerging Russia in the High Arctic, says one of Canada’s most decorated veterans, a man who helped defeat Germany in the Second World War.
Richard Rohmer, an honorary lieutenant-general and former major-general in the Canadian Armed Forces, took a breather inside Queen’s Park on Monday after helping lead Remembrance Day ceremonies outside.
The 100-year-old was a reconnaissance fighter pilot in the war, helped attack the Germans from the sky on D-Day and in 1945 took out a key bridge in Holland, leaving the retreating Germans without an escape route.
Adolf Hitler’s army surrendered soon after that.
Rohmer is now sharing a warning for Canadians about the freedoms they enjoy.
“We’re starting to get great messages now about the need to defend our High Arctic against the Russians who are sitting on the other side of the water,” he said.
“And it’s time we started to defend ourselves, which we don’t.”
Over the summer, the Pentagon warned of increasing Russian destabilizing activities in the Far North, along with more naval co-operation between Russia and China in the area.
Climate change is also leading to worries about Canada’s sovereignty in the North, a vast, remote area that may become more accessible to Russia and China as the Arctic Ocean thaws.
“We have to build up our forces again,” said Rohmer, who flew 135 missions in his P-51 Mustang during the Second World War.
“It’s good for Canadians to learn about the military on days like this so that we can start to get more interest among the young people.”
An image of the famed plane was etched into the Veterans’ Memorial wall outside Queen’s Park in 2006.
But Rohmer was unable to accomplish one final mission: get the name of the wall engraved on the side facing the legislature, which is currently blank.
So during his speech, he asked Premier Doug Ford to step up.
“It is the Veterans Memorial wall and a few words, letters, somehow, premier, on that side would be helpful to let all strangers know — when they appear and see this wall, they don’t know what it is,” he said.
“At the moment, it’s just a blank wall, but the premier is the kind of man who likes to get things done and I’m giving him another suggestion.”
Ford smiled and nodded.
Nearly 150,000 Allied troops stormed the French beaches on D-Day, including 14,000 Canadians. About 359 Canadians were killed that day and another 5,000 died in the ensuing months of battle.
Rohmer, a lawyer and prolific author, returned to Normandy this year for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. He was part of D-Day and played a critical role in Germany’s defeat.
In the lead up to the end of the war in 1945, Rohmer was an artillery specialist as a fighter pilot. One day, he had instructions to take out a key bridge held by the Germans in Holland with a “super heavy artillery gun,” he said.
As he zeroed in on a bridge on the Meuse River in Venlo, he took heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire.
“I was shot at a lot,” he said with a grin.
He pulverized the bridge.
“But I finally knocked the bridge down overnight and that was the last bridge that the Germans had to get out,” Rohmer said.
“So that caused the German army to ultimately surrender.”
Next May, Rohmer plans to return to the Netherlands, where he finished his tour of duty.
“I want to be there for May the fifth, the day the war stopped and Holland was liberated,” Rohmer said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.
