QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs
National Reopening Plan
June 22, 2021
Honourable senators, my question is also for the Government Representative in the Senate.
Senator Gold, I want to first acknowledge the government’s announcement yesterday that fully vaccinated Canadians can now return to Canada, take their COVID tests and get on with their lives. Those developments are steps in the right direction, but Canadians are still left without a clear, consistent and science-based reopening plan that Canadian leaders, including me, started to call for on May 18. Questions remain unanswered at a time when clarity and certainty are needed for businesses to make forward-looking decisions. Canadians, and I would underline Canadian airlines and international tourists, need clarity to make travel plans, and border communities need clarity to prepare for reduced restrictions.
We now know that the Canadian-U.S. border will stay closed for all other travel for at least another month, which I believe is the wrong answer, but we still do not know the vaccination targets that will trigger phases of reopening or even what those phases are. There is also uncertainty around the hotel quarantine program and the number of authorized airports for international travel.
Senator Gold, in summary, there is no plan. There just seems to be a series of reactions. Senator Gold, when will the federal government finally release a comprehensive and transparent road map to get Canadians out of lockdown?
Thank you for your question. The government is taking a prudent and cautious approach as it begins to reopen borders and relax some of the measures that were put in place to protect Canadians from infection. While restrictions for fully vaccinated returning travellers will begin to lift, all will need a negative pre‑departure test and will be tested on arrival. These are important measures to protect Canadians.
Senator, the plan that the government is rolling out is evidence-based. The government is taking the advice of public health officials both at the national and provincial level, and it is working with its partners and stakeholders in other jurisdictions, including airlines and the tourist industry, and certainly its counterparts in the United States. The measured, step-by-step approach that the government has recently announced is the right approach for Canadians. The government understands the desire of some to have a comprehensive plan that could be put on a wall and followed as the days, weeks and months unfold.
We’re not out of the woods yet. Variants are taking hold in this country in every province and territory, and the government is committed to using a cautious and prudent approach to make sure Canadians are safe and not at risk.
Thank you very much for that, Senator Gold. The problem is, of course, that your statements are not necessarily aligning with my understanding on a couple of points.
Let’s start with the fact that there are domestic reopening plans in the U.K., France, Spain and Portugal. We don’t have one. Let’s recognize that the Government of Canada’s own expert panel providing guidance on reopening issued a report weeks ago that the government has not followed. Meanwhile, economic recovery is being hampered.
Again, Senator Gold, can you confirm that the government will produce a comprehensive reopening plan immediately so we can continue to plan forward together?
Thank you for your question. The countries that you mentioned, if I captured your list accurately, are all unitary states and not federations. The provinces are responsible for health measures and for measures to provide for the reopening or for introducing restrictions in economic, educational and other affairs. That’s the reality of Canada, as all of us who live in different provinces know when we cast either a jealous eye, or a grateful eye, to our neighbours in other provinces.
With regard to the study that you referenced, the government takes seriously all of the input that it gets from the scientific community and is studying it carefully as it develops its response and its plans to assist Canadians and plan for the future, but a future that is and has to be safe for them, their families and our country.
