Hello,
New travel restrictions are coming, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says – but just what they are is not yet clear.
Mr. Trudeau has been repeating the warning for days now that Canadians should not book non-essential trips out of the country, or even between provinces, because new restrictions could come at any time.
Public-health officials are worried that March Break travel could cause new outbreaks, of the sort that triggered new lockdowns in January from Christmas-break travel.
The Liberal cabinet has apparently not decided yet what the new restrictions will be, but it could include mandatory 14-day quarantining at a hotel upon a traveller’s return to Canada.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
The Liberal government unveiled today $1-million low-interest loans for businesses in sectors such as tourism and hospitality that have been hit particularly hard by public-health restrictions.
The Liberal government also launched budget consultations for 2021 after skipping the 2020 budget due to the pandemic.
A group of Conservatives who worked under Stephen Harper – including former minister John Baird and former chief of staff Nigel Wright – are organizing an effort to get more Canadian expats to vote Conservative in the next election.
Brampton Centre MP Ramesh Sangha has been removed from the Liberal caucus, apparently after making comments that labelled two current and former Liberal cabinet ministers who are Sikh – Navdeep Bains and Harjit Sajjan – as “extremists.”
Senator Lynn Beyak says she is retiring and, in a parting shot, says the residential schools that led to generations of trauma in Indigenous communities still did some good things.
Protesters drew attention yesterday to the fact that Canada continues to ship light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia for use in the conflict against Yemen.
The United Nations refugee agency said last year saw a record low number of resettlements due to the pandemic and travel restrictions.
And the chief executive officer of the Great Canadian Gaming Corp. has stepped down after he and his wife were caught posing as motel workers in the Yukon in order to get early access to the COVID-19 vaccine. The two were charged and fined, though Rita Luxton, the owner of the motel at which they claimed to work, suggested the punishment didn’t go far enough. “I don’t think a $500 fine is going to give any kind of justice to anybody because the guy can obviously afford to charter a goddamned plane,” she said.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on moving on from Julie Payette’s resignation as Governor-General: “Ms. Payette is reported to have created a toxic workplace, not sold secrets to the Russians. The remedy is her departure. The government doesn’t have to finance her post-GG projects, or fund an office for her. And if anyone in the House of Commons wants to take a close look at the benefits allotted to future governors-general, senators – or MPs – fine. But having Parliament consider a new law solely to remove Ms. Payette’s pension? That would be an improper targeting of an individual out of excessive political pandering.”
Rita Trichur (The Globe and Mail) on the need to knock down interprovincial trade barriers: “It’s clear that Ottawa needs to give our premiers a swift kick in the pants. Currently, only four provinces – British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia – allow for some form of direct-to-consumer shipments for their residents, but there are restrictions. What’s more, the lack of reciprocity among provinces has proved to be a sore spot during the pandemic.”
Erna Paris (The Globe and Mail) on the need to hold Donald Trump accountable for his actions: “Impunity for grave acts corrodes societies because the failure to render individual perpetrators accountable abets (often deliberate) forgetting. Impunity encourages perpetrators to rejoice in their putative success and to infer, correctly, that the citizenry is unwilling to stop them. This is perilous in both the short and the long term.”
Joan Fraser (Montreal Gazette) on the future of anglophones in Quebec: “Old myths endure that anglos are wealthy oppressors of francophones. How many people realize that proportionately far more Quebec anglophones than francophones now live below the poverty line, and that anglophones are more often unemployed? How many realize that the majority of anglophones are now bilingual? Combatting old perceptions can be exhausting.”
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Chris Hannay