In British Columbia, they’re calling it the “Alaska Loophole,” a sneaky border-hopping move by Americans looking for an illegal Canadian vacation.
And with COVID-19 cases exploding in many states south of the border, why wouldn’t Americans want to head north to chill out in a country where the novel coronavirus pandemic is under better control?
“Some people are trying to escape and I don’t blame them,” said Jim Abram, a municipal politician from the Strathcona Regional District on the B.C. coast.
2:40 Nearly 3 million Americans test positive for COVID-19
Nearly 3 million Americans test positive for COVID-19
“But we fought hard against this pandemic, risking the lives of our front-line health-care workers, and we’ve been very successful in flattening the curve.
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“We don’t want to let that sacrifice be for nothing. We sure as hell don’t want to see tens of thousands of new COVID cases every day like we’re seeing in the United States. We need to keep that border closed.”
But the border is closed already, restricted to essential travellers only.
That’s where the “Alaska Loophole” comes in.
According to the Canadian Border Services Agency, Americans are allowed into the country if they are driving straight to Alaska, as long as they can “substantiate their purpose” for the trip to border officials.
According to the CBSA, very few travellers appear to be doing this.
Out of a typical weekly flow of 200,000 border crossings in June, over half were truck drivers delivering essential goods to Canada. About 60,000 were Canadians and permanent residents of Canada returning home from the states. And about 35,000 were American workers in critical “exempt industries” like health care.
“We’re concerned about this phenomenon and we’re hearing about it in communities right across the province,” said Horgan, who also points to the province’s success in flattening the transmission rate of the virus.
“We do not want to throw that away for queue jumpers, for people who want to say they’re going somewhere and then do something else.”
Are Americans really sneaking across the border in large numbers?
Concerned critics point to recent police action, including a pair of Minnesota residents ticketed for entering Ontario and failing to observe a required 14-day quarantine.
And the RCMP ticketed seven Americans apparently enjoying an illegal vay-cay in Banff.
Residents of many B.C. towns and cities, meanwhile, report unusually high numbers of vehicles with American licence plates, some of them towing boats and trailers.
“I hear about it every day,” Abram said. “The border needs to be tightened up.”
But others think the border is sufficiently secure already.
“I’ve been getting calls from people who have not been able to enter Canada even when they have a legitimate reason,” said Vancouver immigration lawyer Alex Stojicevic, who warns against judging someone by their licence plates.
4:08 Coronavirus: Why reopening the Canada-US border too soon could mean a ‘second wave’
Coronavirus: Why reopening the Canada-US border too soon could mean a ‘second wave’
A lot of Americans are legally in Canada already and can drive a vehicle with American plates for up to six months, he said.
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And then there’s the matter of lying to border officials or breaking Canada’s Quarantine Act, offences that can trigger massive fines, jail terms and bans from entering the country.
Still, watch for this issue to heat up. If the virus continues to rage in America, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government may fall under increased pressure to clamp down harder on the border.
Mike Smyth is host of ‘The Mike Smyth Show’ on Global News Radio 980 CKNW in Vancouver and a commentator for Global News. You can reach him at mike@cknw.com and follow him on Twitter at @MikeSmythNews.
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.
