Lack of border reopening plan inexcusable

Sixteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic and we’re wondering: How can it be that the federal government does not have a plan in place yet for reopening the Canada-u.s. border?

We’re not saying it should be reopened now, certainly not fully. But the day is very close when it will be time to put a phased-in reopening into action. The time is right: We know far more about the coronavirus and how to protect ourselves from it now than we did a year ago.

And there are public health measures in place in both countries that, if followed, will go a long way toward limiting spread of the virus. Plus it’s outdoor season now, which offers far safer conditions than during times people are stuck indoors because of cold weather.

Vaccination rates on both sides are high, and especially in Canada they continue to rise steadily. By winter, a large majority of Canadians and hopefully Americans too will be fully vaccinated.

After months of waiting for some word of an actual plan that would lead to reopening, we were told Friday the restrictions have been extended to July 21.

The current patchwork plan sees people arriving by air forced to quarantine in a hotel for three days, even those fully vaccinated and tested for COVID before they boarded the plane.

There are countless reports, though, of others who land in the U.S., walk across the border and have a friend or taxi take them home where they might or might not self-isolate.

The requirement to quarantine might be modified or eliminated in whatever plan is announced Monday, we’re told.

But this week, federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said even those details are still not fully sorted out as to how officers at the border will be able to “verify the existing vaccines certificates that travellers have.” Sixteen months isn’t enough time to get that stuff sorted out?

Frustratingly, those same reports indicate there is still no word expected next week on when tourists and non-essential business visitors might be allowed in. Maybe next month, we presume. Or in August. But how many times have we heard that?

More than half of the countries in the European Union are already issuing COVID-19 passports, based on a digital COVID certificate that was designed to promote travel between EU member states.

The idea of “vaccine passports” has been talked about for more than a year, but in Canada we’ve received little in the way of updates from the government as to whether it has a plan.

Vaccine passports would allow people who can prove they are fully vaccinated to cross the border more or less freely, while still being subject to whatever COVID-19 public health regulations are in place in their destination country.

Plenty of countries already require travellers to prove they’ve been vaccinated against this or that disease. It’s not a new concept.

If such a plan were in place — or the public was at least made aware of concrete planning to have such a system — it would do more than give hope to the tourism industry that has had the daylights beaten out of it in the past year and a half and continues to suffer.

It might also motivate more people to get vaccinated, knowing they can travel again. Is a fully vaccinated American more of a risk to us than a Canadian with one, two or maybe no vaccinations?

Simply saying “not this month” isn’t good enough anymore. Ottawa needs to tell us now how it will start reopening the border.