With the border closure set to expire Sept. 21, Canadians want to see it remain closed
A group of Canadian mayors from cities located near the U.S.-Canada border are calling for the federal government to continue prohibiting non-essential travel between the two countries.
This week, the group of mayors met in an online video conference with Canada’s Public Safety Minister Bill Balir, according to a story by CTV.
“We really need to have it closed until at least the end of the year and then make an assessment, Sarnia, Ontario, Mayor Mike Bradley told CTV. “We need to see what’s happening with COVID in this province with the schools opening and people being in closer quarters, and we also need to watch what’s happening without American partners across the river.”
The border between the two countries has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21 in an effort to help slow the spread of COVID-19 between the neighbors. The closure has since been extended five times and is currently set to expire on Sept. 21.
Bradley said opening the border back up could set back Ontario, which CTV reported is seeing the number of new coronavirus cases trend upward. Once the border does open, Bradley told CTV he believes the fire hose shouldn’t be fully opened all at once.
“Pick the groups and how you’re going to do it. It could be property owners. It could be family reconciliation, but just don’t open it back up again,” Bradley told CTV. “That would be extremely dangerous, and even the minister admitted that would probably mean if it backfired we’d have to close it again. And that’s the worst thing you can do, give us freedom and then take it away.”
Most Canadians seem to agree with the mayors.
In an unscientific Facebook poll with the story, CTV asked readers if they when they thought the border should reopen — next year, it should be open now or wait until there is a vaccine. The post has been commented on 1,800 times, shared 308 times and drew 11,254 votes as of Friday afternoon and found:
▪ 6.6% of people who responded (738) want the border open now.
▪ 34.2% of people who responded (3,854) want the border to remain closed until there is a vaccine.
▪ 59.2% of people who responded (6,662) want the border closed until next year.
B.C. update
Ontario is not the only Canadian province seeing its coronavirus case rate on the rise.
British Columbia saw 139 new cases on Thursday, Sept. 10 — a single-day record, according to a story by CBC. Also a record is the 1,412 active cases in the province.
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard, the province has seen 6,830 total cases during the pandemic and 213 confirmed deaths. It also shows that the number of daily cases has dramatically increased since mid-August.
More than half of those cases (3,551) are in the Frasier Health Authority, which borders Whatcom County. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority accounts for 2,343 cases.
In response to the spike, British Columbia announced on Tuesday, Sept. 8, that it had ordered the closure of all nightclubs and placed new restrictions on the sale of alcohol at bars and restaurants, the Canadian Press reported.
With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia is averaging 133.9 cases and 4.2 related deaths per 100,000 residents.
For comparison, the Washington State Department of Health reported 79,011 confirmed cases and 1,991 related deaths on Thursday. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state is averaging 1,053.5 cases and 26.5 deaths per 100,000.
Turned away
In spite of the border closure, Canada Border Services Agency revealed that it has had to turn away more than 18,000 people trying to cross into Canada during the pandemic, CBC reported.
According to statistics from the border agency, 18,431 people were denied entry into Canada between March 22 and Sept. 2 because the reasons for their trips were deemed discretionary — such as shopping, sightseeing or visiting people, CBC reported.
Of those, 16,070 were U.S citizens (87.2%), while 2,361 were citizens from other countries arriving from the U.S., according to the border agency numbers. Another 448 travelers arrived in Canada by air directly from another foreign country, CBC reported.
According to the story, 4,638 of the U.S. citizens stated they were trying to enter for tourism or sightseeing purposes, 1,987 were seeking recreation, 830 for non-nonessential shopping and the remaining 8,615 gave other reasons.
The Tourism Industry Association of Canada estimated that U.S. residents made more than 14 million trips to Canada per year before the pandemic, CBC reported.
Economic impact
Despite trade and commerce being allowed during the border closing, both countries’ economies rely heavily on one another, and that is definitely seen here in Whatcom County.
The Western Washington University Border Policy Research Institute has found that Canadians comprise approximately 75% of cross-border travelers to and from Whatcom County, depending on the exchange rate, according to information Director Laurie Trautman emailed to The Bellingham Herald. In 2018, that would have represented approximately 10.5 million southbound Canadian travelers through the Blaine, Lynden, Sumas and Point Roberts points of entry.
Those Canadians represent a large portion of consumers in Whatcom County — anywhere from 2% to 46% of the weekend customer base Whatcom County retailers see, Trautman reported, adding that the average is about 17%.
