Task force formed to examine re-opening U.S.-Canada border, but it still may be a while
On the positive side of things — a task force has been created to examine how and when to re-open the U.S. Canadian border, which has been closed to non-essential travel to help slow the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the negative side — it’s not scheduled to make its recommendations until March 2021 — potentially a full year since the border first closed on March 21.
The panel will be staffed by four former Canadian and American politicians, according to a Forbes story about the task force’s creation.
Among the members of the task force will be former Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire, the story reports. She’ll be joined by former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder from the U.S. side along with former Quebec Premier Jean Charest and former Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan from Canada.
The two countries first agreed to close the border to non-essential travel beginning March 21, and have extended that restriction on a month-by-month basis eight times. It’s now set to expire Dec. 21.
Tourists and cross-border travel is currently prohibited, while commerce, trade and vital health workers are among those allowed to cross between the two countries.
“We’re both (the U.S. and Canada) very lucky to be in this relationship with trusted partners, and to be able to deal with these difficult, complicated issues, in a spirit of trust that’s going to allow us to find the answers,” Charest told Forbes. “That’ll take some time, so might as well start thinking about it now.”
How long will it last?
Robert Warren, University of North Dakota professor who used to work at the University of Manitoba, told The Duluth News Tribune that he believes the border could remain closed to non-essential travel through all of 2021, and it may not be until January 2022 that normal border traffic resumes.
“Canada’s not going to open up the border until the virus is under control down here,” Warren told the News Tribune.
The reason for Warren’s dire projections, he said, were the increasing COVID numbers on both sides of the border this fall and the time it will take to distribute vaccines once they are approved.
The administration change in the White House may impact the timing of extensions, though, Warren told the News Tribune, as a longer closure may be announced rather than the incremental, month-by-month process now being used.
COVID numbers update
The numbers on both sides of the border do not signal a reopening coming anytime soon, as both the U.S. and Canada are seeing big increases during the fall surge.
As of Friday afternoon, Nov. 20, the United States was the hardest-hit country in the world during the pandemic with more than 13 million confirmed cases and 264,000 related deaths, according to the John Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard. Canada, meanwhile, was 29th overall with 350,463 cases and 11,896 related deaths, but a number of provinces, including British Columbia, have repeatedly set and broken daily caseload records in recent weeks.
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard as of Thursday, Nov. 26, the province has seen 29,973 total cases during the pandemic and 384 confirmed deaths — an increase of 5,015 cases and 63 deaths since the most recent border extension was announced Nov. 19. With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia has seen an infection rate of 98.3 cases and 1.2 deaths per 100,000 residents in the past week.
The Washington State Department of Health, meanwhile, reported 153,906 confirmed cases and 2,704 related deaths on Wednesday, Nov. 25 (no data was released on Thanksgiving) — an increase of 16,495 cases and 101 deaths since Nov. 19. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state has averaged 219.9 cases and 1.3 deaths per 100,000 residents in the past week.
Retail update
The Canadian federal government in a tweet Tuesday, Nov. 24, advised Canadians not to cross the border in search of Black Friday deals..
“Thinking of traveling to the U.S. for #BlackFriday?” the tweet from Travel.gc.ca read. “Remember that we continue to advise against non-essential travel abroad.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection have not released how many Canadians have attempted to enter the U.S. for discretionary reasons.
But the Canada Border Services Agency told Narcity.com in October that 6,398 U.S. citizens had attempted to enter Canada for tourism purposes, 2,369 were stopped trying to take recreational trips and 583 attempted to cross for non-essential shopping.
Canadian retailers are hoping to capitalize on the opportunity of having a “captive market,” according to Yahoo Finance Canada, as they no longer have to compete with retailers on the U.S. side of the border.
“In previous years, a lot of Canadians would just pop over the border to take advantage of the crazy deals down in the U.S., which often surpassed what we were getting in Canada,” Tandy Thomas, an associate professor in the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, told Yahoo. “But the ability to do that easy cross-border shopping is no longer there.”
A packaging company in Langley City, B.C., has come up with a plan to help Canadians get shipments of packages from U.S. businesses across the border by partnering with a U.S. counterpart in Blaine, according to a Langley Advance Times story.
Packaging Depot 200 in Langley reported to the Advance Times that it has seen the amount of shipments it received nearly quadruple since it started working with Mail Boxes International in Blaine. Canadian customers are placing orders to get items that are easier found in the U.S. than Canada, such as auto parts, eBay collectibles, shoes and other items.
Mail Boxes International owner Brant Baron told the Advance Times that shipping individual packages to Canada was too expensive, but a pallet full of several items makes it more affordable per package.
Freight update
Bureau of Transportation statistics show that freight shipments across the border are continuing to recover from early pandemic lows.
The statistics show freight crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada in September was 28% above what was seen in August. It is still down 6.6% compared to September of 2019, though.
Approximately $28.4 billion worth of freight crossed the U.S.-Canada border in trucks, the Bureau of Transportation reported, which was up 1.9% over August, but down 1.9% from last year. Rail freight over the border was valued at $7.5 billion — up. 2.3% from August, but down 6.6% from last year.
Border loophole
Canadians and Americans are continuing to use Peace Arch Park in Blaine as a way to get around the border closure and have face-to-face meetings with family, friends and loved ones on the other side of the border during the pandemic.
Though the Canadian side of the park has been closed since June, CTV reports Canadians only need hop a small ditch at Zero Avenue in Surrey, B.C., to enter the park and meet with those on the other side of the border without facing Canadian orders for those entering the country to self-quarantine. Washington State Parks told CTV it has no plans to close the park on its side.
“Enforcement of the issue is ongoing and individuals who are found failing to comply with the order (Canada’s Quarantine Act) may be subject to fines,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Kris Clark told CTV about those using the Peace Arch Park loophole.
British Columbia health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry told the Vancouver Sun she wasn’t aware of any COVID-19 cases related to people meeting in the park.
“From a public health perspective, it is concerning that individuals would continue to use the park as a means of circumventing the public health (or) Quarantine Act requirements, especially during this most recent spike in coronavirus cases,” Clark told the Sun.
China news website xihuanet.com posted a series of photos of people meeting in the park and along the border in Whatcom County during the Thanksgiving holiday.
This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
