LondonElite

Yes, in agreement with Washington of course. I think having one section of the border open but not another is unworkable.

JNelson113

Thank you for the link. It makes a ton of sense to me, but unfortunately I didn't see anything in it about the border opening. :-(

Badenoch

We agree its unworkable. Based strictly on local health status a case could be made to open the border at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The Upper Peninsula of Northern Michigan is largely open while Algoma District on the Canadian side has had only 21 cases and zero deaths and is gradually reopening. Were the border to open just in Sault Ste. Marie however the region would be overrun with tourists from across Canada wanting to get into the U.S.

The EU faces this problem as member nations determine who to let in. Non-EU tourists will flock to the most permissive nation and use it as a jumping off point to travel elsewhere.

emma69

Coming out of bunkers perhaps, but they have still cancelled pretty much all the events scheduled there for this summer. And offices are certainly not back yet - my Calgary office is considering a return, but not before July. I think realistically we may be looking at September at the earliest for a full return (in part child care issues, but that is not the only factor). Over here in Toronto many of the large office employers have said not before September, and some have said that a return is unlikely before 2021. While some shops are opening, they are largely deserted, and from what I understand the downtown core is a ghost town, even for the few shops that can open - many are in the large underground mall system, or within office towers and are not allowed to open yet beyond essential services (no office workers = no passing trade).

It is also worth noting that since we eased our restrictions here in Ontario, cases have increased again, with over 400 new cases a day recently, almost all of which were in the Greater Toronto Area. Alberta had 25 new cases yesterday. It is indeed positive for them, but you can't open the border there, and not elsewhere in the country, and over here we are certainly not ready to reopen as cases are rising.

abc5

https://www.cicnews.com/2020/05/how-cbsa-determines-essential-travel-revealed-in-internal-memo-0514463.html

how cbsa determines essential travel internal memo

iahphx

Here's an interesting update about the coronavirus situation throughout Canada.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cana...eopening-some/

It's obvious to me that the lack of actual cases have made many Canadians irrationally fearful of the virus -- much like in other parts of the world with few cases. In the USA, Hawaii would be the equivalent. There are almost no cases in Hawaii, and it would be completely safe for Hawaiians to do anything they want in Hawaii, but the government still restricts activity and movement. There's just something about an "invisible virus" that makes people fearful, when they would never be remotely fearful of a more-visible-but-similar risk. When you've already chucked common sense with your local population, it's hard to imagine admitting "even more dangerous" foreigners from countries that have had more cases.

Given this level of fear, I don't think I'll be making it to Canada in July. I don't think reality will actually matter. I do like my odds for September, though. Maybe.

BTW, looking at the stats, I think Montreal is actually more dangerous right now than NYC.

seawolf

American psyche is fearful of everything from Commies to Muslims to dark-skin individuals to and it manifest itself as need for assault rifles for self-defense.

DELee

Perhaps it is our way of compensating and getting fired up.

David

abc5

YES. i made my own assessment of the same conclusion today using different online sources. nyc appears safer than mtl. for a city of nyc's size, it has, numbers wise, really come down and i said to myself Mtl is producing more active cases than nyc the last two days. i forgot what the numbers were for deaths.

my question is mtls active new cases, how many are coming from their nursing homes? just like in usa, it has been a sizeable percent of new jerseys cases and deaths.

from what i recently read, it did appear the nursing home situation in mtl was of concern.

Badenoch

On one hand you say the lack of cases have made Canadians irrationally fearful but the number of cases causes you to conclude Montreal is dangerous?

Or are you unaware that Montreal is in Canada?

abc5

.....

Badenoch

There is no requirement on a Canadian passport to have an address. There is a place on the passport to fill it in should you wish but it is not mandatory.

abc5

i take back what i suggested as i the american passport also does not contain an address. drivers license does, but not passport. but if your passport is scanned by an official, thier computer does pull up address info as your address was part of the application for a passport.

emma69

I've never informed the passport office of a change of address. I am guessing many others haven't either.

SanDiego1K

Folks, I'm going to post in my capacity as Community Director. Let's keep this away from politics as much as possible. We've got an Omni/PR forum for that. This thread should be about information as to when the country will open its borders, not gun control in the US. And thus, I'm going to delete a post that I don't see as informative about Canadian travel.

Carol/SanDiego1K
Community Director