Trudeau: Those arriving through U.S. land border into Canada must produce negative COVID-19 test

Justin Trudeau says that anyone arriving through the U.S.-Canada land border will be tested for COVID-19 and must produce a negative result upon entry.

This will be enforced starting February 15, Trudeau announced – the latest move to keep COVID-19 from spreading within Canada from people who travelled outside it.

“As of Feb. 15, when you return to Canada through a land border, you will need to show a 72-hour PCR test; just like air travel,” Trudeau confirmed Tuesday.

That is particularly relevant with multiple, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus now circling, many of them already within Canada.

The government began requiring all people arriving in Canada by air to show a negative PCR-based COVID-19 test in early January.

BREAKING: Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau announces beginning Feb 15, anyone crossing back into Canada through land borders will have to show a negative COVID test from within the last 72 hours #cdnpoli

— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) February 9, 2021

Trudeau says while Canada can’t stop its citizens or permanent residents from coming into the country through land borders, hefty fines could be put in place for those who don’t get tested.

“You can’t prevent someone who’s standing at a land border crossing from entering Canada because technically they’re already on Canadian soil when they’re speaking to that customs officer,” he said.

“That’s why what we can do is in cases of no test to apply a stiff penalty.”

In mid-January, Trudeau declared that the border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least February 21 – another 30-day extension to the restrictions in place since last March.

But more people are coming into the country in a vehicle than on an airplane.

The latest statistics from the Canada Border Services Agency show that since the end of March 2.9 million people, excluding truck drivers, entered through a land border crossing, while 2.4 million arrived by airplane.

Trudeau said the federal government cannot prevent Canadians from returning to the country at a land border, even without a test, but if they don’t have the required test they can be fined up to $3,000.

The feds announced more than two weeks ago that travellers flying back from abroad will have to quarantine at a federally mandated hotel for up to three days at their own expense, though Trudeau acknowledged that only a fraction of COVID-19 cases appears to stem from overseas trips.

In a letter to Canada’s transport minister and attorney general, the civil liberties association is demanding Ottawa carve out quarantine exemptions and fee waivers for Canadians who seek to look after loved ones or receive treatment overseas, particularly people in narrow financial straits.

Ottawa has not announced when mandatory hotel quarantines will come into effect, one of several measures aimed at choking off viral spread at the border and deterring non-essential travel.

Trudeau announced on Jan. 29 that Canadian airlines had suspended flights to Mexico and the Caribbean until April 30. Residents who do choose to fly abroad now have to furnish negative COVID-19 test results less than 72 hours before departure back to home soil.

With files from The Canadian Press