U.S. lawmaker wants Biden to take 'unilateral action' on reopening border with Canada
An American congressman says he has proposed to the White House to unilaterally reopen the border to Canadians as Ottawa announced another month extension of the restrictions that prohibit non-essential travel.
In an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday, Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins said he addressed the move to take “unilateral action” to allow entry to those fully vaccinated with top officials this week but layers of bureaucratic red tape are preventing swift action.
“[There’s] too much bureaucracy, no one seems to be making a decision on this. I’ve spoken with the highest levels of the Biden administration, they have to bring it back to a task force. There are two people that can make this happen, the President of the United States Joe Biden, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” he said.
“When you close the border at the middle of a second tourist season, hurting both Canadians and Americans, without any vision about what the plan over the next 30 days is to do everything they can to open that border either incrementally or more comprehensively, that is a terrible disservice.”
On Friday, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair tweeted out the news stating that more information on the government’s phased quarantine and testing approach for fully vaccinated travellers would be unveiled on Monday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later that day said Canada must meet the threshold of 75 per cent of the population vaccinated with one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 20 per cent fully vaccinated before loosening measures.
The restrictions at the Canada-U.S. border that prohibit discretionary travel, but exempt the flow of trade and commerce, as well as vital health-care workers, such as nurses who live and work on opposite sides of the border, have been in place since March 2020.
Higgins said the move is a “slap in the face” to separated family members after officials announced weeks ago a travel exemption for NHL hockey players to cross the border to compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“The National Hockey League gets an exemption not based on the science or the data, based on the Stanley Cup playoff schedule, that’s arbitrary,” he said. “It’s a slap in the face to families that have been separated for 15 months, for people who have not been able to visit, enjoy, maintain their properties for the past 15 months and it’s not good as it relates to U.S.-Canadian relations.”
In a separate interview on CTV’s Question Period, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada Goldy Hyder said the extension is “extremely disappointing” and shows a lack of preparation.
“This agreement is being renewed every month, this can’t just sneak up on anybody. We knew this day was going to come where more and more people are going to be vaccinated and they’re going to want to know what the benefits of that vaccination are,” he said. “The use of phrases like ‘we’re working on’ is very concerning and it erodes public confidence and it erodes business confidence.”
Shopify’s President Harley Finkelstein tweeted out his thoughts on the situation, stating “This is the wrong decision. The second order effects of this for Canada are massive. We need to open the border for fully vaccinated travellers immediately.”
Higgins also underscored the business case for reopening specifically in his Buffalo, Niagara Falls district.
“The Buffalo Niagara International Airport, 30 per cent of the people that use it are Canadian, Canadians spend $15 million a year on health-care services in Buffalo, in western New York. We have two professional sports franchises, the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, 20 to 25 per cent of the fan base, the ticket-buying base lives in southern Ontario,” he said.
“Every aspect of our economy in Buffalo, in western New York, and our life quality, is tied to Ontario.”
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW 'She was waiting for you': The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother in England
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Macklem tries to stay out of the fray as MPs do their best to use him to score points
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem navigates a political minefield every time he testifies before the House of Commons finance committee.
Montreal man on the hook for thousands of dollars after a feature on his Tesla caused an accident
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Spike in 'violent rhetoric' since Oct. 7 attack from 'extremist actors,' CSIS warns
The Israel-Hamas war has led to a spike in 'violent rhetoric' from 'extremist actors' that could prompt some in Canada to turn to violence, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns.
Actor Bernard Hill, of 'Titanic' and 'Lord of the Rings,' has died at 79
Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and went down with the ship as the captain in 'Titanic,' has died.
Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Gaza's Rafah ahead of an expected assault
The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza's southern city of Rafah to start evacuating from the area, signalling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent.
Dash cam catches moment suspected drunk driver hits parked car, sends it careening into North Shore flower shop
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
A Holocaust survivor will mark that history differently after the horrors of Oct. 7
This year's Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on Sunday evening in Israel, carries a heavier weight than usual for many Jews around the world.
India's foreign minister reacts to murder charges, claims Canada welcomes criminals
India's Foreign Affairs Minister accused Canada of welcoming criminals from his country in response to the RCMP's recent arrests in a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.
Local Spotlight
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.