Canada Lifts COVID Entry Restrictions - Will the US Follow?
As anticipated, the Canadian government announced that it will lift its COVID restrictions to travel, internally and internationally, both for nationals and foreigners. Will the US follow?
As anticipated, through various “leaks” to mainstream media, the Canadian government has announced today that it will lift its COVID restrictions to travel, both internally and internationally, effective October 1st.
The harsh restrictions were enforced by the Canadian authorities in November 2021, banning the unvaccinated to leave the country, by air, sea or land. Yet, from very early in 2022, with the emergence of the much less virulent Omicron, the government had ample reasons and opportunities to drop these measures, but it didn’t.
It’s probably people’s pressure, with the truck convoy, and political pressure, with the election of a new leader of the Conservative opposition, Pierre Poilièvre, who opposes mandates, that brought the Liberal government of Prime Minister Trudeau to back off. Business pressure, because of the detrimental effects of the restrictions on business, and tourism in particular, also played a role.
There are also legal reasons, as there are several lawsuits against the border restrictions and mandates under way, and removing the restrictions may allow the government to be “off the hook” and the lawsuits to be ruled as “moot” by the judiciary. (even if the ArriveCAN system is only made optional, not cancelled)
Remember, the harsh travel restrictions were never recommended by the Canadian health bureaucracy. This was recognized under oath, in the context of discovery for one of the lawsuits against the government. It appears that the measure were decided at the highest level by the Liberal government, against the advice of the bureaucracy.
Canada was the last country on the planet to maintain such stringent restrictions, forcing unvaccinated citizens in 2 weeks quarantine, with multiple testing, while both vaccinated and unvaccinated had to fill out the infamous ArriveCAN app for all their international travel.
The key parts of the announcement can be found below:
In its media release, the authorities continue to thank their vaccination program for the reduction in COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths, not acknowledging that widespread natural immunity and less virulent variants are the main reason for this.
“Thanks to Canadians who rolled up their sleeves and got vaccinated, we are able to take this great step towards easing measures and returning to normal” stated the minister of transport, on the occasion of the announcement!
As usual, the authorities continue to pretend that the border measures played a role in containing the spread of the virus; while it is widely known, for over a year, that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people spread it, i.e. that restricting travel to the vaccinated was not going to reduce propagation.
The authorities take the opportunity to promote the injections:
“Canadians can continue to do their part to protect themselves and others, and reduce the spread of COVID-19, by getting vaccinated and boosted, using high quality and well-fitted masks where appropriate, self-isolating if they have symptoms and self-testing if they can.”
Remember, the Canadian prime minister wants 80 to 90% of the population to get their boosters to prepare for the winter!
As usual, according to the “safe & effective” narrative, there is no word about the risks of adverse events, serious adverse events and deaths, associated with the injections.
In this respect, you may want to check our recent post on the pharmacovigilance data in the UK and France, which are extremely concerning.
It must be noted that using the ArriveCAN app has now been made optional. This means that its use could again be imposed by the authorities, even if it’s most likely to be as ineffective with new variants as it was previously, because both vaccinated and non-vaccinated propagate the virus.
Noteworthy is that the measure applies to both Canadians and foreigners.
This means that someone like tennis star Novak Djokovic will be again allowed to enter Canada from October 1st.
Remember, Djokovic was not allowed to enter Canada this summer, because of his vaccination and citizenship status, and had to forgo his participation in the Rogers Cup international tennis tournament.
For the Canadian unvaccinated, access to the US remains prohibited, so the main travel destination for Canadians remains only accessible for the vaccinated.
Let’s see if the Biden administration follows the Trudeau administration and lifts its entry restrictions for unvaccinated foreign nationals.
Final note: there are still many vaccine mandates in place in Canada, and this relaxation by no means puts an end to the coercive measures to get people injected.
See the full announcement by the Canadian government
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/09/government-of-canada-to-remove-covid-19-border-and-travel-measures-effective-october-1.html