Next Sunday (March 21) will be the one-year anniversary of the border between Canada and the United States that had to be closed due to the New crown outbreak. And there are no official plans for when the world’s longest land border will reopen.
CBC correspondent Alexander Panetta has been on the ground to report on the impact of the one-year closure on the Canadian and U.S. economies, the people, businesses, and communities that live around the border.
Reopening the border is not on the horizon
Canada and the United States share the longest border in the world, and it is undefended.
In recent conversations, government officials from both countries have revealed that despite rapid vaccination efforts, they have not been able to confirm how far the outbreak has decreased before the border between the two countries can be reopened.
Both sides say reopening the border is not yet on the agenda. And the official line is that it is still too early to discuss reopening the border because the threat of the new coronavirus remains serious.
For now, the number of people vaccinated is still too low, the number of new cases is still a concern, and mutated varieties of the virus pose more unknown dangers.
One Canadian official, who asked not to be named, said he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. But the border closure will continue in the near future.
In addition, Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins of Buffalo, N.Y., said in an interview that he was optimistic that the border could be partially reopened by the end of May.
They also wrote a letter to President Biden asking for public health indicators and a gradual opening of the border plan.
Higgins said his goal is that the border can be partially reopened on May 31, the U.S. Memorial Day; and fully reopened on July 4, the U.S. Fourth of July
And Canada’s Fourth of July happens to fall on July 1.
He said some families, whose loved ones have been separated for a year, should reopen if it is safe to cross the border.
He suggested that as long as they can show their vaccination certificates, continue to wear masks and insist on maintaining social distance.
But Canadian officials are still refusing to give a timetable for reopening the border between the two countries, saying that “the argument for reopening the border is premature.
One important shift, however, is that the Biden Administration has moved quickly to vaccinate, giving the U.S. a glimmer of hope that the outbreak is finally under control.
Biden has pledged to have the entire population vaccinated and Life back to normal by July 4, the U.S. National Day.
The impact on the auto industry is particularly significant
Over the past year, access to the Canada-U.S. border has been limited to certain essential workers, humanitarian reasons, and transportation drivers, resulting in a drop in traffic of about 90 percent.
The automotive industry is the most frustrated that the border cannot be reopened.
They believe that after the signing of the new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the entire industry is transitioning to electric vehicles and there is a new demand in the supply chain. Parts companies across the continent are now competing hard to get contracts, but Canada continues to shut down, risking damage to its own interests at a critical Time.
Volpe (Rob Wildeboer), an executive at a Canadian auto parts company, complained that the Canadian federal government has not given clear rules to the border authority and that entering Canada has actually become more difficult.
He said he hopes the government will make auto industry workers essential in the short term so they can be free of segregation. Their companies are competing with U.S. companies and their employees need to travel to the U.S. to negotiate.
He also complained that Canadian Public Safety Minister Tony Blair ignored their request.
However, after CBC questioned Public Safety about it, Volpe told reporters that Blair had talked to them and offered to give them a helping hand.
And as a next step, Higgins and others plan to push for a roadmap that will clarify how to reopen the Canada-U.S. border in stages.
And the many communities who live along the border have been blocked from seeing each other on a daily basis for a year now. For now, they, too, are anxiously waiting.
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