Originally Posted by
Finkface
I think they granted you the exemption because you (politely) persisted to the point where they just let you go rather than deal with it. If you read the Order, normal business travel most definitely does not qualify as essential. Essential means to provide (or will provide upon entry) an essential service such as a health care worker, flight crew etc, not to feed your family. The service must be essential enough to Canada (not essential to you) to warrant taking the risk of not making you quarantine, not just because you need to go on a business trip. And I think we all know that.
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(e) a person or any person in a class of persons whom the Chief Public Health Officer determines will provide an essential service;
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"And I think we all know that." Wrong, we don't. Like so much in life, this is not as black and white as you might think.
With regard to item (e) above, I spoke with a knowledgeable Health Canada representative before I took the overseas assignment. I asked her to define "essential service" and specifically to explain to me to whom the service needed to be "essential" in order for the exemption to apply. She told me that the service should be essential to my client / employer, and NOT to the government of Canada. That's the key point here. And if you take the time to think about it, you'll realize that it's the right approach.
There's an interesting point with respect to business travel. The Canadian government has to toe a fine line. On one hand, if business travel is so unnecessary as you suggest, then why doesn't the government simply come out and put a blanket quarantine order on all business travelers as they have done for leisure travelers? Well, they can't do that, of course, because some business travel is necessary. On the other hand, they don't want to open the floodgates. So, they have tried to define the cases where business travelers are exempt from quarantine requirements, without actually coming out and saying that all business travelers are exempt. And as I said in my previous post, I think they've done it rather well.
You may not agree that I should be exempt from the quarantine requirement, but why should I care what you think? I trust that Health Canada has thought this through and that they have adequately communicated with CBSA whose officers are responsible for making on-the-ground decisions with respect to exemptions. Again, I'm not gaming the system, and believe me (because you weren't there to witness the conversation I had with the CBSA officer) they didn't just "let me go rather than deal with it". The CBSA officer let me make my case, he asked me several questions and, based on guidance from Health Canada and based on his judgement about the extent to which I take C19-related risks seriously, he granted me the exemption.
Since returning I have been tested (PCR), and it came back negative. Before I leave the country I will test again, and before I return to Canada I will test once more. I don't pose a significant threat to the health of my family and other Canadians, including my parents who are in their mid 80s. The risks associated with C19 are manageable.