International Group Slams Trudeau Government For New COVID Test Rule
Impacting Travel Jim Byers January 03, 2021

Strict new rules for arriving air passengers come into effect in Canada later this week, and critics are howling.
In an announcement that left travellers and travel agents scrambling for information, the Trudeau government last week said that all visitors age five and older who come into Canada will need proof of a negative COVID-19 test beginning Thursday, January 7 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time.
The new rules, which don't cover land crossings into Canada, require passengers to have a PCR test taken within 72 hours of their scheduled departure. That test result must be validated by an airport worker at the point of departure, said Transport Minister Marc Garneau.
All arriving passengers must follow Canada’s Quarantine Act and isolate for 14 days after they land.
Passengers who authorities feel have access to tests but don’t present one at the airport will have to reschedule their flights, Garneau said. If airport workers agree that a traveller did not have access to testing facilities, the traveller will be allowed to board their plane to Canada but must quarantine at a federally-approved facility for 14 days.
Global News quoted Garneau as saying that test must be provided by a lab accredited by “an external organization” such as a local government or professional lab in the country of departure.
The International Air Transport Association called the Canadian policy “the worst of both worlds.”
It is both callous and impractical to impose this new requirement on travelers at such short notice,” the IATA said. “Moreover, it is completely unrealistic to mandate that airlines check passengers’ compliance with the new rule, as it cannot be the airline’s role to determine if a passenger tried their utmost to get tested or not.”
The group said Canada “already has one the world’s most draconian COVID-19 border control regimes, including travel bans and quarantines. Even though COVID-19 testing is an internationally accepted risk-mitigation strategy, there are no plans to adjust the current 14-day quarantine rule nor eliminate the temperature checks airlines are required to perform on passengers wishing to travel to Canada. Moreover, no explanation has been provided as to why a PCR test is the only acceptable test, given that this is not readily available in many countries.”
The IATA said estimates show that the aviation sector’s direct GDP contribution to Canada’s economy dropped by $13.24 billion CAD in 2020 vs 2019, placing some 146,000 Canadian jobs at risk.
Canadian aviation expert Robert Kokonis the move could lead to “catastrophic” losses for Canada’s airlines and aviation businesses.
“This industry has shed hundred of thousands of jobs globally since the onset of the pandemic – and that is just airlines,” he said in an email. “In Canada, we are talking about tens of thousands of jobs.
“The requirement now for travellers entering Canada (who are largely Canadian citizens and residents) to get an advance negative Covid test, and still quarantine for 14 days upon arrival will deter even more passengers from travelling,” Kokonis said. “Already brutally weak load factors on international routes could be reduced to table scraps, forcing our airlines to make additional route and capacity reductions.
“This will translate directly into addition lost airline jobs. Rippling those job losses across the broader aviation and tourism food chain, and we could be setting up our industry for catastrophic losses.”
“And, don’t forget, Canada is one of the few developed countries with a leading global carrier that has yet to provide any sector-specific financial support to its airlines, and only paltry sums to its airports,” he added.
Writing on her Twitter account, Conservative Party critic Michelle Rempel Garner said the announcement is causing mass confusion.
“The Liberals' new bright idea is to have international airline workers with no ties to Canada act as COVID-19 screening agents,” she said. “The lack of rationale, clarity and confusion created by the Liberal government's half-baked announcement leaves airline workers and Canadians abroad in limbo.”
Garneau said his government will do everything it can to help Canadians adjust to the new policy.
"One of the things that we're trying to do is to provide information on the locations where testing is provided in the different foreign countries," he said. "At the same time ... counterfeiting unfortunately sometimes happens and you can't totally cover every base."
Mike McNaney, President and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada said Ottawa’s announcement “only addresses one element of the path forward – the utilization of testing to help further protect public health.”
“We strongly believe it must also be utilized in conjunction with measures to reduce quarantine levels, as is being done in countries all around the world,” he said.
McNaney also said the time frame for airlines to adjust to the new rules is too tight.
Unifor, a trade union that represents some 300,000 airline workers, used the announcement to repeat its call for federal aid for Canadian airlines.
Garneau said the government is trying to let Canadians and other travellers know where they can get tested prior to their flight. He also admitted that some travellers might try to forge test result documents.
"One of the things that we're trying to do is to provide information on the locations where testing is provided in the different foreign countries," he said. "At the same time ... counterfeiting unfortunately sometimes happens and you can't totally cover every base."
The Trudeau government’s announcement was made in the wake of news of a new strain of the coronavirus making its way into Canada. It also came after several days of harsh criticism from Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier Francois Legault, both of whom have called for a major expansion of rapid-testing for passengers arriving at Canadian airports. Ford also blasted Ottawa for failing to monitor Canadians and visitors who are supposed to be quarantining upon arrival.
Garneau said Ottawa will be stepping up its enforcement of quarantine rules. Violations, he said, are subject to a prison sentence of up to six months and/or fines of up to $750,000.
He also suggested that new rapid-testing programs for Canadian airports could be announced in the coming days.
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