by Jim Byers
Last updated: 7:29 AM ET, Tue June 8, 2021
Canada is prepared to open its borders to vaccinated travellers, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But he's not saying just when that will happen.
In his strongest public comments yet on the matter, Trudeau on Monday said Canada is looking at how it could start welcoming visitors from out of the country as Canada's COVID-19 situation continues to improve.
The Prime Minister said the government has to keep Canadians safe, but also help Canada's battered tourism and travel industry.
"We're not going to get ahead of ourselves," he said during a virtual chat with the St. John's Board of Trade. "We are looking at how we're going to start welcoming up tourists in a phased way as the numbers come down in Canada, as the numbers start to come down in the United States and elsewhere around the world."
The CBC quotes an anonymous official as saying a July border opening seems more likely than June. The current U.S.-Canada border closure order expires June 21.
Trudeau said Canada's solid showing on COVID-19, which came after a rough start, will put the country in good stead.
"Not only have we managed to keep case counts low and manage throughout this pandemic in most parts of the country, but we are also extremely high in terms of vaccination numbers, and that is going to be reassuring to a lot of people who maybe want to travel but don't want to be putting their families at risk.
"Canadians are going to be really keen on tourism, on getting out there, on leaving their community," he said.
A phased reopening was one of the major recommendations from a Canadian government advisory panel report two weeks ago. The panel also proposed that fully vaccinated travelers be exempt from quarantine and that the three-day hotel quarantine for airline passengers be abolished.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu has said that Canadians can expect changes to the quarantine rules.
A media event sponsored by a number of tourism groups, including Hilton Hotels and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, is to be held in Toronto today (June 8) to pressure Ottawa to open the border to give the Canadian travel industry a boost.
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