Some Canadians abroad plan to change their route home and cross the border by land, instead of air, to bypass Canada’s pricey new hotel quarantine requirement.
“If I can avoid it, I’m going to do it,” said Brian Cross of Burlington, Ont., who is spending the winter with his wife, Anne, in Mesa, Ariz.
The couple originally planned to fly back to Canada in April. But that was before the federal government announced last week that, effective Monday, most air passengers entering Canada must take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and spend up to three days of their 14-day quarantine at a designated hotel to await their test results. (They can leave earlier if their results come back early.)
Travellers must foot the bill for their stay, which could cost upwards of $2,000, according to the government.
But the hotel quarantine rule doesn’t apply to travellers entering Canada by land, inspiring some like Cross to revise their plans.
“Common sense says, well, let’s do the path of least resistance, right? If I can save 4,000 bucks, why wouldn’t I do it?” he said, estimating the total hotel bill for two people.
Brian Cross in Mesa, Ariz., where he is spending the winter. Cross said when he returns to Canada, he plans to fly to Buffalo and then cross the border by foot to avoid the cost of quarantining in a hotel. (Submitted by Brian Cross)
If the hotel quarantine rule is still in effect when Cross, 63, and Anne, 61, return home in April, he said they plan to fly to Buffalo instead of Toronto. Then they’ll take a cab to the Rainbow Bridge land border crossing at Niagara Falls, N.Y., and walk across the border to Niagara Falls, Ont.
Cross said a couple of friends have agreed to drive his car to the Canadian side of the border and leave it there for him.
“We’ll just pick it up and drive home,” he said.
Cross and his wife will still have to adhere to other new measures designed to curb the spread of COVID-19. As of this week, land travellers must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test at the border and, starting Monday, must take another test on arrival and a third near the end of their 14-day quarantine.
But there will be no hotel stay, which Cross argues is unfair to people flying home.
“It’s kind of discriminatory that you fly and you’ve got to stay in a hotel, but you drive in, you don’t.”
WATCH | Hotel quarantinies coming for air travellers:
The federal government has announced dates for new travel measures meant to keep COVID-19 cases in check, including requiring proof of a negative test at land borders beginning Feb. 15 and introducing mandatory hotel quarantines for international air travellers as of Feb. 22. 2:17
Why the rules are different
The government said its new rules vary due to different circumstances at the land border.
Most leisure travelers enter Canada by air and, by funnelling all flights into four major airports, the government can ensure that arriving passengers check into nearby quarantine hotels.
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says imposing the same requirement for the small number of leisure travellers entering by land poses a difficult challenge.
“At land borders we have 117 different points of entry and many of those points of entry are located in remote rural areas,” not near hotels or other amenities, said Blair during a news conference last week.
In an email statement sent by his office, Blair also said that the government has implemented effective measures for both land and air travellers.
“If people are not prepared to go through that rigour of keeping themselves and their communities safe, then I’d urge them to stay where they are, just to avoid all non-essential travel,” he said.
Ben Mallory of Burlington, Ont., is currently in Virginia, visiting his girlfriend, Abigail Bettenhausen. Mallory said he’ll cross on land returning to Canada because he can’t afford the cost of quarantining in a hotel. (Submitted by Ben Mallory)
Cross says he’s happy to comply with all the test requirements at the land border and argues travelling by land carries less risk because he doesn’t have to check into a hotel with multiple employees and other guests.
“My plan is, I don’t see anybody except the cab driver from Buffalo,” he said.
And he’s not the only Canadian air passenger planning to make a pit-stop at the land border on the way home.
Last month, Ben Mallory, who also lives in Burlington, flew to Lynchburg, Va., to visit his girlfriend. When he flies home in April, he too plans to land in Buffalo and then cross the border in Niagara Falls by foot.
Mallory said he understands why the government introduced the hotel quarantine requirement, but he’s still determined to avoid it because he can’t afford the price tag.
The 23-year-old e-commerce administrator graduated from university in April and didn’t land a job until September.
“A $2,000 sudden expense would be quite devastating,” he said. “That would put me in a negative balance with my bank account.”
Mallory says the government should cover the cost of the hotel bill, or at least provide financial assistance for travellers who need it.
“Having to quarantine in a facility with these prices, it just seems a bit ridiculous.”
On Sunday during an interview on CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live, Blair responded to a question about people who can’t afford the hotel bill.
“I think there will be ways in which we will find to manage those individuals, but, quite frankly, what we are urging Canadians to do right now is not travel,” he said.
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. – Police in New Glasgow, N.S., say a 44-year-old woman faces fraud charges after funds went missing from the Pictou East Progressive Conservative Association.
New Glasgow Regional Police began the investigation on Oct. 7, after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston reported that an undisclosed amount of money had gone missing from his riding association’s account.
Police allege that a volunteer who was acting as treasurer had withdrawn funds from the association’s account between 2016 and 2024.
The force says it arrested Tara Amanda Cohoon at her Pictou County, N.S., residence on Oct. 11.
They say investigators seized mobile electronic devices, bank records and cash during a search of the home.
Cohoon has since been released and is to appear in Pictou provincial court on Dec. 2 to face charges of forgery, uttering a forged document, theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.
Police say their investigation remains ongoing.
Houston revealed the investigation to reporters on Oct. 9, saying he felt an “incredible level of betrayal” over the matter.
The premier also said a volunteer he had known for many years had been dismissed from the association and the party.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
PICTOU, N.S. – A Nova Scotia excavation company has been fined $80,000 after a worker died when scaffolding collapsed on one of its job sites.
In a decision released Wednesday, a Nova Scotia provincial court judge in Pictou, N.S., found the failure by Blaine MacLane Excavation Ltd. to ensure scaffolding was properly installed led to the 2020 death of Jeff MacDonald, a self-employed electrician.
The sentence was delivered after the excavation company was earlier found guilty of an infraction under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Judge Bryna Hatt said in her decision she found the company “failed in its duty” to ensure that pins essential to the scaffolding’s stability were present at the work site.
Her decision said MacDonald was near the top of the structure when it collapsed on Dec. 9, 2020, though the exact height is unknown.
The judge said that though the excavation company did not own the scaffolding present on its job site, there was no evidence the company took steps to prevent injury, which is required under legislation.
MacDonald’s widow testified during the trial that she found her husband’s body at the job site after he didn’t pick up their children as planned and she couldn’t get in touch with him over the phone.
Julie MacDonald described in her testimony how she knew her husband had died upon finding him due to her nursing training, and that she waited alone in the dark for emergency responders to arrive after calling for help.
“My words cannot express how tragic this accident was for her, the children, and their extended family,” Hatt wrote in the sentencing decision.
“No financial penalty will undo the damage and harm that has been done, or adequately represent the loss of Mr. MacDonald to his family, friends, and our community.”
In addition to the $80,000 fine, the New Glasgow-based company must also pay a victim-fine surcharge of $12,000 and provide $8,000 worth of community service to non-profits in Pictou County.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Investigators found the remains of a 77-year-old American man on Wednesday at the scene of a fire that destroyed a hotel in western Newfoundland on the weekend.
Eugene Earl Spoon, a guest at the hotel, was visiting Newfoundland from Kansas. His remains were found Wednesday morning during a search of the debris left behind after the fire tore through the Driftwood Inn in Deer Lake, N.L., on Saturday, the RCMP said in a news release.
“RCMP (Newfoundland and Labrador) extends condolences to the family and friends of the missing man,” the news release said.
Spoon was last seen Friday evening in the community of about 4,800 people in western Newfoundland. The fire broke out early Saturday morning, the day Spoon was reported missing.
Several crews from the area fought the flames for about 16 hours before the final hot spot was put out, and police said Wednesday that investigators are still going through the debris.
Meanwhile, the provincial Progressive Conservative Opposition reiterated its call for a wider review of what happened.
“Serious questions have been raised about the fire, and the people deserve answers,” Tony Wakeham, the party’s leader, said in a news release Wednesday. “A thorough investigation must be conducted to determine the cause and prevent such tragedies in the future.”
The party has said it spoke to people who escaped the burning hotel, and they said alarm and sprinkler systems did not seem to have been activated during the fire. However, Stephen Rowsell, the Deer Lake fire chief, has said there were alarms going off when crews first arrived.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
