Joe Oliver: Under the guise of preventing COVID-19’s spread, returning Canadians are required to: show a negative result from a molecular test administered within 72 hours of departure time; submit to another test on arrival; then be confined for three nights at a government-designated hotel at a cost of up to $2,000 — even if they are fully vaccinated. If the second test result is negative, they are released to go home for a monitored 11-day quarantine and another test on day 10. However, if the second test is positive, then for 14 days they must “relocate to a designated quarantine facility or other suitable location as directed,” with the hope their residence is suitable. This is wrong on so many levels.
According to the Canada Border Services Agency, 74 per cent of 8.6 million travelers who arrived in Canada since the start of the pandemic were exempt from testing or quarantine. That is almost 6.4 million people, including truck drivers and others providing essential services. Granted, we need them to cross the border freely, but no tests are required on arrival, not even rapid ones, which makes little sense. Despite this loophole through which many trucks literally drive, a mere 0.7 per cent of people contracted COVID from a traveler, according to an April 11, 2021 epidemiology update from the federal government. The punitive measures are clearly way out of proportion to the risk.
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