Open The Border
I have to admit to some personal bias, but I think it is time to open the Canadian - US border and other international borders. We have planned a Salmon Fishing trip to Northern BC for Labour Day weekend and five of the six coming live in the US. Also we have a family trip planned to Grand Cayman Island for November of this year with 10 people form Canada and two from the US. It looks promising that both of these will go ahead, but it’s not guaranteed. Covid variants could arise or our infection rate could begin to climb again - hopeful not, but either of these could happen.
My daughter Heather Owen works for Leger Research which just published research results indicating that Canadians’ have greater reluctance than Americans to open borders quickly. Their results and commentary indicate that,
‘With some in the US talking about unilaterally opening the border with Canada, we asked Canadians if the border did re-open, albeit with restrictions in place in Canada for quarantining, would they travel to the US. 83% Canadians said they would not.
‘Just over a third of Canadians (36%) said they support re-opening the border with the US. Support for re-opening the border was strongest in AB (51%)
‘In the US, 78% of Americans would like to see the Canada-US border re-opened’
My view, considering my acknowledged bias, is that sometime within the next 4 to 6 weeks we should reopen the border. The risks are lower and much more well understood now than they have been. We cannot hide in our homes and immediate communities forever because of a low probability risk that appears to continue to get lower, we need to get on with our lives and learn to once again enjoy travel and visiting experiences, we need to get back to work places, we need to welcome new experiences, spread our wings and enjoy life, kids need to get back to school, we need to get our economy back to something approaching normal - particularly our hospitality and tourism businesses. Let’s be sensible about it, but let’s get and keep the wheels in motion to reopening our Canada US border as part of reopening our lives.
