Canadian Chamber encouraged by new border measures for fully vaccinated travelers, but questions remain

(OTTAWA) – July 19, 2021 – The Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s President and CEO, Perrin Beatty, issued the following statement on today’s new border measures for fully vaccinated travelers.

“As Canada moves from recovery into growth, having workable border measures for fully vaccinated travellers is critical for Canadian businesses. While many questions remain about how this partial reopening will work, we welcome today’s announcement as a positive step towards making safe international mobility a reality.

Businesses have been calling for predictable, science-based border measures. We are encouraged that the government is modifying quarantine rules for vaccinated travellers and enabling more airports to receive international travellers. However, we are concerned that the costly and cumbersome procedures that remain for fully vaccinated travellers will discourage short visits, including many business trips.

As these measures are implemented, we will need to address a number of outstanding issues for Canadians, including how to efficiently manage points of entry to avoid border congestion, what changes the U.S. government will make for Canadians travelling to that country and how the rules for unvaccinated minors will be applied. Most importantly, the ArriveCan app is a poor substitute for a secure system of interoperable digital health credentials.

We urgently need a secure system that will both help Canadians travel and ensure that others coming here are quickly assessed.”

About the Canadian Chamber of Commerce – Because Business Matters

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce helps build the businesses that support our families, our communities and our country. We do this by influencing government policy, by providing essential business services and by connecting businesses to information they can use, to opportunities for growth and to a network of local chambers, businesses, decision-makers and peers from across the country, in every sector of the economy and at all levels of government, as well as internationally. We are unapologetic in our support for business and the vital role it plays in building and sustaining our great nation.

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For more information, please contact:
Phil Taylor
ptaylor@chamber.ca