EDITORIAL: Feds finally drop COVID travel theatrics

Some people choose to wear a mask. Others do not. Some people are receiving an additional COVID booster shot. Others are not.

Each to their own. People are making their own decisions. That’s how it is now and that’s the right way.

On Monday, the federal Liberal government announced that they were finally dropping some of the last remaining pandemic-era travel rules.

As the Canadian Press reported, “Federal ministers say all COVID-19 border restrictions will be removed as of Saturday, including mandatory vaccination, testing and quarantine of international travellers, as well as the requirement for masks on planes and trains.”

That’s good news for many reasons. For starters, it should be plain obvious by now that it’s up to individuals to make the choices they feel are best for themselves and their families.

But it was also proving to be a logistical hold-up. The travel experience in Canada has been a mess in recent months. Anything that streamlines the process and does away with red tape is something to be celebrated.

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Every pandemic travel rule, no matter how minor, added seconds and sometimes minutes to the travel process. It all adds up.

Then there’s the fact that these rules were a major disincentive for Americans entering Canada. Whatever your thoughts on vaccines, the truth is that a significantly smaller percentage of Americans have been vaccinated than Canadians.

This means that any vaccine rules at the border were turning away prospective tourists, business travellers and people coming over for family visits.

A number of Canadian politicians representing border communities attested to the fact that tourism was still low due to these measures. They wanted to see them lifted.

Whether it’s inertia, laziness, vindictiveness or a misguided sense of following “The Science”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet were left clinging to pandemic-era rules later than most other governments in this part of the world.

We wish the rules hadn’t been in place for as long as they were, but we’ll at least say kudos to them for acknowledging that they now need to be removed.

By the end, they were no more than theatrics.

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