Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has dashed the hopes of tourism operators on Vancouver Island that the marine border with the U.S. will reopen before the end of this summer’s tourist season.
During a campaign stop in Victoria on Thursday, Trudeau said the marine border remains closed because “we don’t have the capacity to manage it safely.” He didn’t explain why Canada is unable to process travellers at marine borders safely, but it doesn’t surprise tourism officials like Paul Nursey, the CEO of Destination Greater Victoria.
“It’s the height of incompetence,” he said. “Keeping us in the dark is not acceptable, but that’s what’s been happening since the borders were closed.”
Nursey said his group is considering a class-action lawsuit against the federal government “for damage to hotel and tourism operators.”
Tourism operators in B.C.’s capital depend on the 750,000 American tourists who arrive annually on one of two ferries that would normally ply the waters between Victoria and Washington state.
Both the Coho and Clipper ferries have been docked since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but had expected to resume business after Aug. 9, when land and air borders were reopened to non-essential travel from the U.S.
However, a last-minute decision by the federal government kiboshed those plans, and ferry operators say they’re being treated unfairly. U.S. travellers can enter Canada by land or air if they’ve been fully vaccinated and can provide proof of a negative COVID test through an app called ArriveCAN before leaving the U.S.
The CEO of Clipper Navigation, Dave Gudgel, said his company is fully prepared to pre-screen travellers, just like the airlines are doing, and it has always provided a designated space in its terminal for Canadian border officials to screen passengers on arrival.
“So we don’t understand what the problem is and why we are being treated differently,” he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. citizens on pleasure craft are allowed to enter Canada without any pre-screening. They can provide proof of vaccination and a negative COVID test after arriving at designated marinas in Canada.
On Thursday, Trudeau explained, “we are working to increase that [marine border] capacity and hope to see positive things come in the not-too-distant future.”
Canada will reopen marine borders to cruise ships Nov. 1, and ferry operators are assuming that will also apply to them.
Meanwhile, Nursey said Vancouver Island operators face additional barriers to accessing the U.S. tourist market because it has no land border with the U.S. and Victoria’s airport is not currently allowed to accept international flights.
