Border-town mayors call for end to Canada’s COVID-19 test requirement for travellers – CBC

Mayors argue test impedes a return to tourism on both sides of the border

Nov 08, 2021

Several border-town mayors on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border held a virtual news conference on Monday morning to call on Canada to nix its pricey COVID-19 test requirement for fully vaccinated travellers.

The event was held on the same day the U.S. finally reopened its land border to fully vaccinated recreational travellers, after 19 months of closure.

But the border-town mayors said they aren’t fully celebrating just yet, because a big obstacle for travellers still remains: when entering Canada, they must take a molecular test — such as a PCR test — which can cost hundreds of dollars.

“Now there’s a pathway to cross, yet that pathway is dampened by an unreasonable and costly requirement for a PCR test to return to Canada,” said Drew Dilkens, the mayor of Windsor, Ont., which borders Detroit.

“This PCR test requirement is a hard stop barrier for families to reunite except for the wealthiest of Canadians, and that is unfair.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/u-s-border-pcr-test-1.6239614