Scrap the App: Prescott, Ont. mayor joins calls to drop the ArriveCan app requirements

Border mayors call for change There are growing calls for more restrictions to be lifted including elimination of the ArriveCAN app. CTV’s Nate Vandermeer explains.

Border-city mayors say the removal of some travel mandates by the federal government on Tuesday is just one-step to help towns and cities recover from the pandemic.

The second step is scrapping the ArriveCAN app.

"It almost seems out of place now with how we've moved along," said Prescott Mayor Brett Todd. "I'm not sure it's really a necessary step that really needs to be taken for people traveling in over the land border."

"I think it's a good sensible next step to remove arrive can and lets move on," he added.

Todd's comments echoed other border-city mayors, who held a press conference Wednesday morning that included tourism industry leaders and an opposition MP.

They say the app is confusing for travellers and is discouraging cross-border traffic.

"We've always said follow the science, well the scientists are telling us now that there's no reason to have the ArriveCAN app," said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati.

"Right now in this situation, it's man made disaster that we are dealing with," he added. "We are just about to kick off the tourism season and this is supposed to be the great recovery and what are we doing? We need to open things up."

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, even comparing the situation to a Monty Python skit.

"This has become very silly, the rules are inconsistent and they are disrespectful of border cities that had stood by the federal government in the last two years," he said.

The remarks come at a key time, when those tourism dollars could help many border towns get back on their feet economically.

"It's like a boa constrictor on our communities, just squeezing the economy when we should be going in the other direction," Bradley added.

"Yesterdays announcement by federal ministers further solidifies that this government doesn't understand border communities or worse doesn't care," said Barbara Barrett, Executive Director of the Frontier Duty Free Association.

"Border businesses that depend on U.S. tourism are still 50 per cent down from 2019," she added.

Todd says it is time to move forward on the issue, with one international crossing just five kilometres east of his town.

"That is a significant barrier to people readily crossing the border because some people are just going to look at that and say I'm just not going to bother, I'm happy to stay at home until everything is completely cleared up," Todd said.

The mayor has travelled to the U.S. multiple times through land crossings since the borders re-opened last November. He says it takes more time to fill out the information through the app than it does to cross the border in his vehicle.

"It's been fantastic here both at Prescott-Ogdensburg and at Ivy Lea. No issue whatsoever, very seamless, never even referred to (the app) by the border crossing officers," Todd said.

He is also concerned about the upcoming tourism season, noting people still aren't travelling like the used to.

"From visits over there and talking to people here, I think COVID has changed a lot of travel patterns and buying patterns and so on," he said. "It may not be permanent, but I think it's going to last longer than COVID."

"It's going to be interesting to see what it looks like after we get a couple of years of what we call normal travel without any apps, without COVID concerns," he added.

"I think removing the app requirement is going to be necessary because it's just, its spreading a lot of confusion on that side of the border with Americans that just don't understand what that added step means for them to cross right now so the best way to deal with that is just to remove them," Todd said.

Diodati noted that 50 per cent of the revenue comes from Americans in his city, and action needs to be taken immediately to have a successful summer.

"We are going to kill our opportunity at a tourism season," he said. "So we're pleading to our counterparts in Ottawa, do the right thing and do it now."