sydneyracquelle

Anyone is free to leave Canada anytime before the 14 days ends as long as you quarantine until you leave.

sydneyracquelle

Risky hoping that an uneducated airline clerk will let you board an international flight to Canada without a covid test if you are in transit as his/her airline could be fined so you might not get on the plane.

Transpacificflyer

I am astounded that the testing requirement has come as a surprise to so many people.
Most of the leisure destinations Canadians can travel to now either require a PCR test prior to departure or after arrival. If a majority of African countries required PCR testing prior to entry months ago, what makes Canada so protected that it does not need similar protective action? Other countries are even tougher. You can't enter Thailand without a prior negative test, 14 days mandatory quarantine in an approved facility and 2 more successful tests. It is Canada that is the outlier and the laggard.

It is infuriating when the the 2% infection rate is tossed out as a justification to not require testing of arriving passengers. 2% refers to only those cases where there has been a confirmed diagnosis. If the traveler is asymptomatic or is never linked to an identified infection, the infection passes undetected. The countries that do not have a test requirement (e.g. Brazil, Mexico, Columbia etc.) are doing a terrible job of managing their pandemic. Allowing unfettered entry from explosive hotspots is irresponsible.

I remind the people showing surprise that last September, BC Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry took the airlines to task for their inadequate and delayed provision of information to allow contact tracing. B.C. Transportation Minister Claire Trevena said when officials request data from airlines, what they receive is often missing crucial contact details. Sure, Bill Blair can boast of Canada's tough requirements, but it's hot air. In the months since the enactment of the isolation rules, there hasn't been one significant enforcement action and it is not because Canadians are complying. The request for more robust screening came to a head after Premier Ford said Ontario would go it alone if the federal government would not act. On December 21, he compared the way the border is being managed to a leaky roof and pointed out that close to 64,000 people arrived at YYZ in the previous week and that none were thoroughly screened. Multiple provinces are in crisis mode and cannot cope with a more infectious variant of the virus. Quebec is rightly concerned that thousands of travelers would come pouring back into the province with many infected. These leisure travelers put their personal desire for a holiday first and they are more likely to be people who will not comply with self isolation requirements.

The government cannot legally stop the mobility of people and it has tried to protect individuals' ability to travel in the event of necessity. The airlines have taken advantage of this by offering flights to destinations where there is minimal concern for transmission of Covid19 such as Mexico. Individuals on leisure trips must accept that they chose to exploit a legal loophole, because that is what it is, and that there is a cost. The airlines had a free ride without consequences for their activity, and now they need to accept the cost that attaches to it. Requiring an easily accessible test isn't a burden.

And yes the test is easily accessible in most of the destinations Canadian carriers serve. if the destination requires PCR test on arrival, then they can do the test for outgoing as well. And if the destination doesn't have the capability to test, then too bad. No one will be stranded. The airlines will allow changes if it is due to a delayed test result. They have to, otherwise they won't be able to manage the issue.

The big mystery is if the test results will be compiled. It will be interesting to see how many people test positive on some routes.

YOWgary

"Uneducated" might be a bit much, unless you're referring to the lack of detail provided by government to airlines on how their staff are to tell an acceptable test apart from a bad one.

Vaclav

I understand the pcr test returning from BGI to YYZ and then self-isolation in final European destination.

The question is how to handle the transit/necessary overnight at YYZ due to 23 hour layover - even with negative pcr test. Will the person be allowed to spend a night at nearby hotel prior to departure from Canada next day?

rankourabu

Except that 80% of people are not screened at all with a much bigger loophole of granting exemptions to almost anyone. The leisure traveller is not the problem, at the very least, those people have to quarantine. The leaky roof is the giant exemption loophole.

sydneyracquelle

Positive testers will not try to board the flight but will stay at their destination (or drive to Canada) until they test negative so no one will ever know.

Fiordland

This is no different than what happens now. The "uneducated airline clerk" needs to look at passport and visia of the person checking in and determine if they meet the transit requirements of the airports they will transit and the entry requirements of their final destination.

The Canadian rules are simple in comparison to the German rules that they will need to understand. The German testing requirement depend on country of departure and the state in Germany the person is going to.

tcook052

Agree completely as I'd imagine the very small number of leisure travellers who are availing themselves of this "legal loophole" is tiny in the big picture but an easy target now the holiday season is over.

And the suggestion that these leisure travellers are more willing to ignore quarantine or self-isolation upon their return is pure fiction from my first-hand experience.

The Lev

Seems based on your view that the government is trying to have it both ways - airlines are expected to keep travel routes open for returning Canadian but with no outbound passengers and no subsidy from the government. Government ministers also didn't seem to get the memo.

This is not a "legal loophole" - it may not be recommended, but it is legal to travel full stop. What isn't legal is to fail to fully and properly quarantine (except for the 80% of border hoppers who are exempt).

A PCR test done on arrival in the airport doesn't help the departing passenger much unless they are doing a quick turn - the test has a minimum 12-24 hour turnaround time... unless you are saying people need to go to the airport 2 days ahead to get tested (if the people there agree to do it), go back to where they are staying and return to the airport 2 days later.

In addition a lot of airport testing is antigen, which is not acceptable to Canada.

Transpacificflyer

The requirement for a test document will be no different than the requirement to have acceptable identification. If a passenger shows up for an international flight and does not have a passport, the passenger is not allowed to board. The Canadian government is not denying entry.

January 7, 2021

Screening for infections makes them morons? How else do you manage a highly infectious illness?

Only because the data is not gathered. How do you think the EU variant of the virus came to Canada?

The testing is in respect to non Canadian origin flights and there is little opportunity for most of the travelers to drive to Canada. YYZ has the most cross border traffic for Canada and arrival traffic for 2020 was International 25.20%, Transborder 8.64%
If someone flew to the USA and then attempted to return via a land crossing in a rented vehicle, I think it would raise a red flag at the border and initiate closer scrutiny. CBSA would definitely ask the traveler why the traveler was returning via automobile. CBSA isn't stupid.

sydneyracquelle

There could be many reasons to come home via land border like visiting someone or lower cost. As a CDN citizen you have to comply with the Customs and Quarantine Acts as well as the Criminal Code. Not quite sure what you expect the Customs officer to do if you don’t look sick, haven’t spent more than your allowance/exemption and you agree to quarantine. There is no covid test requirement at the land border.

skybluesea

As usual, your views are generally accurate and address the legitimate rationale for actions by government given the current situation. The need now for government to implement SOMETHING is predictable, based on months of active lobbying by the Provinces for Ottawa to get serious in dealing with the wealthiest Canadians who in cavalier fashion are refusing to follow the non-mandatory non-essential travel advisories. The PCR test, which many other countries are doing, will be less of a hardship on airlines than an outright ban, and also doubtful that this announcement was made without at least some initial discussions with AC/WJ and possibly others.

However, and respectfully, multiple posts in this Thread are inaccurate, including yours, as the GoC has every right to curtail mobility of people. Without getting too legal or off-topic, Section 1 of the Charter includes these words (and I expect you are aware of my background in border control):

"subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society"

Thus, the Mobility rights in Sec. 6 can be "reasonably" abridged, as we have seen in the failed legal attempt in Newfoundland to knock down the "Atlantic Bubble". Whether the current Appeal will be successful, only time will tell.

Therefore, given the current state of the law, Ottawa has CHOSEN not to ban trans-national travel, and instead now implement the new PCR measures as the weak non-essential travel order has proven ineffective (even if ONLY from a political unfairness perspective).

Given the arrival of the vaccines, it is unlikely Canada will reach the need to ban travel outright, and instead keep up with roadblocks such as the PCR test that avoids Ottawa using sledgehammers to achieve reasonable compliance with recommendations of public health officials.

The good news is doing my homework overnight with my friends in Rome, it should be relatively easy to get a PCR test (fee: 60 Euro) within the required timeframe to meet the new Ottawa requirement. Assuming I get vaccine in January as scheduled, hope to launch my first international flight in 13 months come April.

btw...post#125 that suggests GoC can make airlines that serve Canada do something without an official Order, well, this is simply NOT true. Airlines require clear and enforceable direction so to avoid fines and possible aircraft confiscation. The PCR test rules need to be officially set forth in Regulation, authorized by the applicable Minister(s), and until this happens, the PCR test rule is NOT enforceable.

Transpacificflyer

I suggest that you read the Quarantine Act. the powers granted are extraordinary. At this time, it is highly unlikely that people are flying to sun destinations in the USA and returning by non owned vehicle. If more people try to exploit loopholes intended to give leeway, one can expect the leeway to be removed.

skybluesea

please read transpacificflyer post as the Quarantine Act is an extraordinary piece of legislation that makes public health officials far more powerful than most Canadians really understand.

PS… The PCR test requirement is fully lawful under the quarantine act, and it is a small abridgement compared to what could otherwise happen If things got really bad