TORONTO – After countless hardships and protests, the federal government turns around and removes – until June 30 – random Covid-tests for vaccinated vaccinated at airports. It was announced on Friday by the Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra. Only unvaccinated travelers will still be “tested” at airports. Then, starting from July, all Covid-tests will be carried out outside the airports.
“The government of Canada recognizes the impact that significant wait times at some Canadian airports are having on travelers”, Alghabra said, just few days after former NHL player and podcast host Ryan Whitney, in a viral video released earlier last week, called Toronto Airport “Hell on Earth”.
The rethinking of the government – which until last week had hinted that Covid-tests would not be eliminated – may not be enough, however, according to the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, which gathers industrial groups in the tourism sector and airports and urges the government to completely eliminate the requirement of the ArriveCAN test and application which further slows down passenger movements, and also to lift all remaining Covid-19 restrictions, including the mandatory vaccine for both passengers and airport staff.
“Canada’s outdated rules are causing unacceptable delays at the country’s major airports, keeping international visitors away and ruining Canada’s reputation on the world stage,” the Roundtable said Friday evening. “Canadians deserve a response from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because he is jeopardizing our image internationally and condemning our tourism sector by refusing to return to pre-pandemic travel restrictions”, echoed some opposition conservative members, including Melissa Lantsman.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Tourism, Randy Boissonnault, speaking to CTV’s Question Period, said he was “not happy with the situation. I don’t want Canadians waiting in line. I don’t want international travelers to be stuck on the asphalt. We have a problem. and we have to solve it”, he said. “I want to see this resolved in a few weeks, not six months or a year … I want to make sure this summer is a season that people will remember positively”.
For their part, Canada Border Services Agency and Canadian Air Transport Security Authority are increasing hiring to return to pre-pandemic staffing levels, and individual airlines have also announced that they are working to address the staff shortage.
One of the queues at Toronto Pearson Airport on June 5th (screenshot from the video on Yasser Massim’s Twitter profile @ymassimi)