The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau has resisted pressure from airlines to hurriedly reopen the country’s borders by saying opening the borders too quickly could trigger another session of the coronavirus.
Trudeau made the disclosure while talking during a daily briefing. He said: “I understand there are a lot of tourism firms and airlines who would like us to be able to once again to welcome tourists.”
“But these people all need to understand that if we take steps too quickly, if we are not sure of what we’re doing at each stage, we risk hitting a second wave … and having to close our economy again.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, Calin Rovinescu and a prominent tourism industry group asked the government to ease travel restrictions earlier this month.
In a letter published in the Globe and Mail newspaper last week, a group of 27 top executives asked Canadian government to relax coronavirus-led air restrictions.
Last week, Canada and the United States extended a ban on travel that is non-essential to late July. Month-long restrictions were introduced in Washington and Ottawa in March and were renewed in April and May.
While talking further, Trudeau said: “I understand how difficult this is and how frustrating this is for some people but … we are going to be very very careful about when and how we start reopening international borders.”
