Sarnia, Ont. mayor expects U.S. border restrictions for Canada to last past Aug. 21

The politician of Sarnia, Ont., which borders Port Huron, Mich., is anticipating that borderline restrictions announced by the United States authorities connected Wednesday volition widen beyond Aug. 21.

Mayor Mike Bradley is besides expressing vexation with what helium sees arsenic a deficiency of practice from the U.S. successful moving toward jointly reopening the Canada-U.S. border.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said connected Wednesday that onshore borders with Canada and Mexico volition stay closed to non-essential question for astatine slightest different 30 days, until Aug. 21.

The announcement came two days aft Canada announced that American citizens and imperishable residents who privation to travel to Canada for non-essential reasons and who are afloat vaccinated against COVID-19 volition beryllium allowed to bash truthful starting connected Aug. 9.

Bradley said helium and the different borderline metropolis mayors were informed by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair astir the U.S. borderline restrictions for Canada.

“It shocked us,” Bradley told Global News. “We expected due to the fact that we closed the borders unneurotic — for precise valid reasons — that erstwhile we went to reopen the borders, we would bash it together.”

“My content from the telephone I was connected the different time listening to (Blair), was that his counterpart successful the States was saying this could beryllium overmuch much than 30 days.”

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However, Bradley said helium has nary denotation of however overmuch longer those borderline restrictions for Canadians travelling to the U.S. could extend.

Even erstwhile restrictions assistance for Americans travelling to Canada connected Aug. 9, helium believes it volition instrumentality clip for galore radical to consciousness comfy travelling crossed the borderline and consenting to adhere to further requirements to let them to transverse the border, specified arsenic providing impervious of vaccination done the ArriveCAN smartphone app oregon web portal.

“I deliberation it’s going to beryllium similar what’s happening with the wide reopening successful our ain communities. I deliberation it’s going to instrumentality a portion for immoderate momentum to physique connected that,” helium said.

“We’ve struggled for years since 9/11 with the passport rules that were brought successful to get Americans implicit here. I’m pleased for my colleagues successful Niagara Falls, Niagara-On-The-Lake, Stratford, due to the fact that they truly request this due to the fact that of their immense dependence connected the tourism sector,” Bradley said.

“But I bash deliberation it’s going to instrumentality clip particularly — and we pointed this retired to the curate — with each the things they’ll person to bash to get the apps and each that. We recovered successful the past, it’s sometimes hard to pull Americans if there’s immoderate impediments to what they person to bash to transverse that border.”

Restrictions connected non-essential question betwixt Canada and the U.S. were imposed successful March 2020 astatine the opening of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, the onshore borderline has been closed to each non-essential travel. However, the U.S. has allowed Canadians to alert in, portion Canada has not allowed Americans to bash the same.

— with files from Reuters and Global News’ Amanda Connolly.