OTTAWA —
An agreement has been reached between Canada and the United States to keep the border closed to all non-essential travel for another month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday, calling it the “right thing” to do. He is cautioning that it could be months still before non-essential travel is allowed.
The extension on the existing agreement means that the border restrictions will stay in place until June 21, even as parts of both countries begin gradually reopening. The agreement, as it stands, exempts the flow of trade and commerce, as well as vital health-care workers such as nurses who live and work on opposite sides of the border. Tourists and cross-border visits remain prohibited.
“This is an important decision that will keep people in both of our countries safe,” Trudeau said on Tuesday. Facing questions about the cross-border decision, Trudeau said there was a clear desire from premiers to keep up the border closure.
“The decisions that were taking are very much made week-to-week in this crisis. The situation is changing rapidly and we’re adjusting constantly to what are the right measures for Canadians to get that balance right between keeping people safe, and restoring a semblance of normality and economic activity that we all rely on,” said the prime minister.
Speaking about the agreement at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said that “as things clean up,” in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, both sides will “want to get back to normal.”
“We’re very close to Canada,” he said.
To date there have been more than 79,000 COVID-19 cases in Canada, and nearly 6,000 people have died, while the United States currently has more than 1.5 million active COVID-19 cases and more than 90,000 people have died in that country.
Talks had been underway since last week, with Canada wanting to see the travel limitations left in place, despite a growing push from Canadians who want to be reunited with loved ones who live across the border.
The prime minister continues to emphasize that reopening Canada’s border to international travel would be risky as countries worldwide are still working to contain outbreaks and more robust contact tracing has yet to be established.
“We will continue to watch carefully what’s happening elsewhere in the world, and around us as we make decisions on next steps,” Trudeau said.
Ahead of the extension being announced, outgoing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the government needs to put in place a clear plan for when a more broad reopening of travel could be possible, how that reopening would be managed and how further risks mitigated.
“We’ve also heard from individual cases of hardship, for individuals who are separated because of the closure. We certainly have a lot of compassion for those spouses who have been separated, or children who don’t have access to one parent or another,” Scheer said earlier on Tuesday.
This is the second time the agreement has been extended, after first being imposed in March, with the current extension on border restrictions set to expire May 21.
14-DAY ISOLATION KEY: TAM
The prime minister said this extension gives Canada another month to figure out how to answer questions such as what further measures will be required when the border does reopen to ensure that people crossing the border don’t become vectors for further spread of the deadly respiratory virus in Canada.
He said while planning is already happening on what “strong measures” will be imposed, it will become crucial once the time comes for non-essential travel to pick back up, which he estimates will be “in the coming months.”
Asked about what the public health argument is for continuing to keep the Canada-U.S. border closed and what the benchmarks will be for signs it’s an appropriate time to loosen those restrictions, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said the first step would be carefully reopening travel restrictions within Canada.
She said drastically limiting who has been able to enter the country over the last two months—nearly all international visitors—has been key to Canada controlling the outbreak.
Canadian health officials will continue to watch the United States’ epidemic and trajectory to see whether it will be appropriate come June 21 to lift restrictions or continue to maintain them.
Further, she said that even when international travel can resume, the 14-day mandatory quarantine and follow up enforcement of that order will remain “a cornerstone” of the disease control measures.
“Fundamentally, it’s about ensuring that whatever we do, the system is still able to detect and still able to cope with any introduction,” Tam said.
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump is refusing to say how he voted on Florida’s abortion measure — and getting testy about it.
The former president was asked twice after casting his ballot in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday about a question that the state’s voters are considering. If approved, it would prevent state lawmakers from passing any law that penalizes, prohibits, delays or restricts abortion until fetal viability — which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks.
If it’s rejected, the state’s restrictive six-week abortion law would stand.
The first time he was asked, Trump avoided answering. He said instead of the issue that he did “a great job bringing it back to the states.” That was a reference to the former president having appointed three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.
Pressed a second time, Trump snapped at a reporter, saying “you should stop talking about it.”
Trump had previously indicated that he would back the measure — but then changed his mind and said he would vote against it.
In August, Trump said he thought Florida’s ban was a mistake, saying on Fox News Channel, “I think six weeks, you need more time.” But then he said, “at the same time, the Democrats are radical” while repeating false claims he has frequently made about late-term abortions.
In addition to Florida, voters in eight other states are deciding whether their state constitutions should guarantee a right to abortion, weighing ballot measures that are expected to spur turnout for a range of crucial races.
Passing certain amendments in Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota likely would lead to undoing bans or restrictions that currently block varying levels of abortion access to more than 7 million women of childbearing age who live in those states.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a new video posted early Election Day, Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in the television program “Baywatch” – red one-piece swimsuit and all – and asks viewers to vote.
In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, set to most of “Bodyguard,” a four-minute cut from her 2024 country album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé cosplays as Anderson’s character before concluding with a simple message, written in white text: “Happy Beylloween,” followed by “Vote.”
At a rally for Donald Trump in Pittsburgh on Monday night, the former president spoke dismissively about Beyoncé’s appearance at a Kamala Harris rally in Houston in October, drawing boos for the megastar from his supporters.
“Beyoncé would come in. Everyone’s expecting a couple of songs. There were no songs. There was no happiness,” Trump said.
She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland – but she endorsed Harris and gave a moving speech, initially joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland.
“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said.
“A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided,” she said at the rally in Houston, her hometown.
“Imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceilings, no limitations,” she continued. “We must vote, and we need you.”
Harris used the song in July during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware. That same month, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, publicly endorsed Harris for president.
Beyoncé gave permission to Harris to use the song, a campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign operations confirmed to The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May pay tribute to the life of Murray Sinclair, former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sinclair died November 4, 2024 at the age of 73. (Nov. 4, 2024)
