Frustration Builds on World’s Longest Border as Canada Goes Slow on Reopening
- 13 months of restrictions test patience but cases still rise
- Border rules hurt trade more than ‘all the Trump rhetoric’
Canada’s Justin Trudeau has a border problem. Like his counterpart in the White House, he’s being pummeled by his political opponents for it.
Canada’s land border with the U.S., the world’s longest, has been shut to many foreign travelers for more than 13 months. Non-essential workers entering the country are required to quarantine for two weeks. The rules have blocked tourists, kept families apart, prevented students from visiting college campuses and hurt trade-dependent manufacturers.
But new variants of Covid-19 still arrive and a third wave has raged across parts of Canada. Trudeau finds himself squeezed between two groups. On one side are critics including doctors and the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, who say loopholes in the government’s travel rules and weak controls at airports have made the situation worse. On the other are businesses calling for the prime minister to loosen restrictions, or at least outline a plan for doing so.