OTTAWA — Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says he cannot yet commit to a date — or COVID-19 vaccination rate benchmarks — for when so-called vaccine passports will allow Canada to ease travel restrictions.
Speaking at a virtual news conference Thursday, Alghabra said decisions around hotel quarantines for air passengers and the eventual reopening of the border will hinge on expert advice and unspecified criteria tied to the pandemic.
“These decisions will depend on public health, will depend on data and evidence. At this moment I can’t give you a specific date,” he told reporters.
“We’re going to have all of these measures and all of these thresholds outlined in detail when we feel it’s time to do so,” he added.
The travel and aviation sectors will take off again “when it’s safe,” he added.
Alghabra has stressed the need for a “common platform” to identify travellers’ vaccination status, saying Thursday he is working with G7 countries and the European Union to integrate vaccine certification into international travel in the months ahead.
The EU agreed Wednesday to a plan that would allow fully vaccinated travellers to visit the 27-nation bloc, as well as relax restrictions for all travel from some other countries that are deemed COVID-19-safe. A date remains to be set, however.
The move prompted Canada’s largest airlines to renew their call for a clear plan from Ottawa on a timetable for resuming international travel.
Mike McNaney, who heads the National Airlines Council of Canada, lauded the EU for its “science-based approach” and demanded a similar blueprint from Ottawa, saying Wednesday the federal government should state when it will adjust travel restrictions for inoculated visitors.
Fewer than 29,000 travellers arrived in Canada by plane the week of April 26 to May 2, in contrast to the 688,000 passengers who streamed in during a comparable time period two years earlier, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. The difference amounts to a 96 per cent drop.
Alghabra stressed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s talking point of a “one-dose summer” and “two-dose fall,” which is when the transport minister “can see restarting … some of the activities.”