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Canadians can still travel to the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic — just not by car – CBC.ca

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After Karel Bennett was turned away at the U.S. land border between B.C. and Washington state last month, she didn’t give up hope of entering the U.S. to see her newborn grandson. 

The Canada-U.S. land border is closed to non-essential travel to help stop the spread of COVID-19. However, Bennett had heard rumours she may still be able to fly to the U.S. 

She said she was first tipped off by U.S. border officers at the crossing where she was denied entry.

“They said, ‘Have you thought about flying?’ And I said, ‘Well, no,’ and they said, ‘You might want to look at that.'” 

Bennett was desperate to visit her daughter, who lives just outside Seattle, because her daughter’s one-month-old  son was sick with a respiratory problem. So, Bennett took a chance and booked a flight from Vancouver to Seattle on May 22. This time, she had no problems getting through U.S. customs and entering the country. 

“I just couldn’t believe it,” said Bennett, who lives in Sooke, B.C. “I was so happy.”

The Canada-U.S. land border is closed to non-essential travel to help stop the spread of COVID-19. (The Canadian Press)

Many Canadians are unaware that, even though they’re currently barred from driving to the U.S. for leisure travel, they can still fly to the country. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told CBC News that its travel restrictions apply only to Canadians trying to enter the U.S. at land border crossings, which includes travel by car, train, ferry and pleasure boats.

However, Canadian air passengers can still enter the country as long as they haven’t visited Brazil, China, Iran, Ireland, the U.K. or 26 European countries in the Schengen Area 14 days prior. 

Canadian travellers also likely won’t have to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that international travellers do so, but it’s not a requirement unless specified by a particular region or state. For example, Hawaii requires that air passengers self-isolate for 14 days. 

When Canadians return home, they must self-isolate for 14 days — as per federal rules

Flying rule not widely known

The U.S. air travel rule isn’t widely known on either side of the border. U.S. immigration lawyer Len Saunders said he only became aware of the details when one of his Canadian clients called him in mid-May — from Las Vegas. 

The client reported that he had managed to fly from Vancouver to visit his fiancée, who lives in Las Vegas.

“I was shocked,” said Saunders, whose office sits close to the Canadian border in Blaine, Wash. “Logically, when you look at it, if the border’s closed, it shouldn’t be any different whether you drive or fly.”

Len Saunders, an immigration lawyer in Blaine, Wash., said he was shocked when he first learned that Canadians can still fly to the U.S. (Gabriel Osorio/CBC)

Saunders immediately spread the word about flying to the U.S. to his Canadian clients who have loved ones in the country. He said dozens of them have since flown there and experienced no complications or self-isolation requirements. 

“It’s given them the opportunity to reunite with family members, so it’s definitely a welcome loophole to many Canadians.”

Saunders advises people to book their flights online. His clients who have tried to buy a plane ticket to the U.S. by phone have often been rejected by airline agents unaware that it’s allowed, he said.  

“Don’t talk to an agent, and you’ll have no problem.”

Some U.S. airlines currently offer routes between Canada and the U.S., and Air Canada resumed service to the U.S. on May 22.

WATCH | Questions about who new policy is designed to help:

Canada is now allowing some family members separated by temporary COVID-19 travel restrictions to cross the border from the U.S. 3:22

The permission to fly isn’t reciprocal: Canada prohibits U.S. visitors from entering the country via all modes of transport — including by plane. However, this week, the Canadian government loosened its travel restrictions to allow U.S. citizens with immediate family in Canada to enter the country.

Last month, Canada and the U.S. agreed to keep their shared land border closed to non-essential traffic until June 21, and, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation, that date will be extended. But Canadians will still be able to fly to the U.S., unless the country revises its rules.  

Why let Canadians fly to the U.S.?

Bennett spent 10 days in the U.S. and is grateful she had the opportunity to reunite with her daughter and help care for her new grandson, who has since recovered from his illness.

“There’s really no words to express it. I’m very thankful,” she said about her visit.

But Bennett said she’s confused about why she was allowed to enter when the Canada-U.S. land border is closed. 

“It’s very bizarre,” she said. “Why would they do that?”

CBP didn’t provide CBC News with an explanation. Instead, it sent a link to a Department of Homeland Security document that states that “non-essential travel between the United States and Canada poses additional risk of transmission and spread of COVID–19.”

However, the document doesn’t state why its travel restrictions for Canadians only apply to land border crossings.

Saunders said he’s stumped why the U.S. is still allowing Canadians to fly to the country.

“It makes no sense, but many Canadians are happy to take advantage of this loophole.”

A word of caution

The Canadian government currently advises its citizens to avoid travelling abroad because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it won’t prevent them from visiting the U.S. or other countries and will allow travellers to return to Canada — as long as they self-isolate for 14 days. 

However, because of the government’s travel advisory, Canadians will likely face difficulty getting travel insurance that provides medical coverage if they fall ill with COVID-19 while abroad.

Total U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed two million on Wednesday. Canada’s cases stood at just over 99,000.

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Proposed $32.5B tobacco deal not ‘doomed to fail,’ judge says in ruling

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TORONTO – An Ontario judge says any outstanding issues regarding a proposed $32.5 billion settlement between three major tobacco companies and their creditors should be solvable in the coming months.

Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz has released his reasons for approving a motion last week to have representatives for creditors review and vote on the proposal in December.

One of the companies, JTI-Macdonald Corp., said last week it objects to the plan in its current form and asked the court to postpone scheduling the vote until several issues were resolved.

The other two companies, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., didn’t oppose the motion but said they retained the right to contest the proposed plan down the line.

The proposal announced last month includes $24 billion for provinces and territories seeking to recover smoking-related health-care costs and about $6 billion for smokers across Canada and their loved ones.

If the proposed deal is accepted by a majority of creditors, it will then move on to the next step: a hearing to obtain the approval of the court, tentatively scheduled for early next year.

In a written decision released Monday, Morawetz said it was clear that not all issues had been resolved at this stage of the proceedings.

He pointed to “outstanding issues” between the companies regarding their respective shares of the total payout, as well as debate over the creditor status of one of JTI-Macdonald’s affiliate companies.

In order to have creditors vote on a proposal, the court must be satisfied the plan isn’t “doomed to fail” either at the creditors or court approval stages, court heard last week.

Lawyers representing plaintiffs in two Quebec class actions, those representing smokers in the rest of Canada, and 10 out of 13 provinces and territories have expressed their support for the proposal, the judge wrote in his ruling.

While JTI-Macdonald said its concerns have not been addressed, the company’s lawyer “acknowledged that the issues were solvable,” Morawetz wrote.

“At this stage, I am unable to conclude that the plans are doomed to fail,” he said.

“There are a number of outstanding issues as between the parties, but there are no issues that, in my view, cannot be solved,” he said.

The proposed settlement is the culmination of more than five years of negotiations in what Morawetz has called one of “the most complex insolvency proceedings in Canadian history.”

The companies sought creditor protection in Ontario in 2019 after Quebec’s top court upheld a landmark ruling ordering them to pay about $15 billion to plaintiffs in two class-action lawsuits.

All legal proceedings against the companies, including lawsuits filed by provincial governments, have been paused during the negotiations. That order has now been extended until the end of January 2025.

In total, the companies faced claims of more than $1 trillion, court documents show.

In October of last year, the court instructed the mediator in the case, former Chief Justice of Ontario Warren Winkler, and the monitors appointed to each company to develop a proposed plan for a global settlement, with input from the companies and creditors.

A year later, they proposed a plan that would involve upfront payments as well as annual ones based on the companies’ net after-tax income and any tax refunds, court documents show.

The monitors estimate it would take the companies about 20 years to pay the entire amount, the documents show.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Potato wart: Appeal Court rejects P.E.I. Potato Board’s bid to overturn ruling

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OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a bid by the Prince Edward Island Potato Board to overturn a 2021 decision by the federal agriculture minister to declare the entire province as “a place infested with potato wart.”

That order prohibited the export of seed potatoes from the Island to prevent the spread of the soil-borne fungus, which deforms potatoes and makes them impossible to sell.

The board had argued in Federal Court that the decision was unreasonable because there was insufficient evidence to establish that P.E.I. was infested with the fungus.

In April 2023, the Federal Court dismissed the board’s application for a judicial review, saying the order was reasonable because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said regulatory measures had failed to prevent the transmission of potato wart to unregulated fields.

On Tuesday, the Appeal Court dismissed the board’s appeal, saying the lower court had selected the correct reasonableness standard to review the minister’s order.

As well, it found the lower court was correct in accepting the minister’s view that the province was “infested” because the department had detected potato wart on 35 occasions in P.E.I.’s three counties since 2000.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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About 10 per cent of N.B. students not immunized against measles, as outbreak grows

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FREDERICTON – New Brunswick health officials are urging parents to get their children vaccinated against measles after the number of cases of the disease in a recent outbreak has more than doubled since Friday.

Sean Hatchard, spokesman for the Health Department, says measles cases in the Fredericton and the upper Saint John River Valley area have risen from five on Friday to 12 as of Tuesday morning.

Hatchard says other suspected cases are under investigation, but he did not say how and where the outbreak of the disease began.

He says data from the 2023-24 school year show that about 10 per cent of students were not completely immunized against the disease.

In response to the outbreak, Horizon Health Network is hosting measles vaccine clinics on Wednesday and Friday.

The measles virus is transmitted through the air or by direct contact with nasal or throat secretions of an infected person, and can be more severe in adults and infants.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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