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Higgins responds to Canada's announcements related to border testing measures

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Fri, Nov 19th 2021 04:40 pm

Congressman Brian Higgins provided the following statement in response to announcements made by the Canadian government related to planned changes to border management policies.

He said, “Of course we welcome action that removes obstacles to cross-border travel for those fully vaccinated, but changes from both the U.S. and Canadian governments have come at a frustratingly slow pace, in a disjointed manner, and with puzzling reasoning that doesn’t follow the science. Today’s announcement is no different. The public is again left confused and waiting for more information. The same standard should be applied to all vaccinated travelers regardless of which side of the border you are crossing into or where you live.”

The announcements included:

√ Effective Nov. 30, vaccinated Canadians traveling abroad for less than 72 hours will no longer have to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test when returning to Canada by land or air.

√ This change applies to Canadians only. There was no further information released today related to testing requirements on vaccinated Americans traveling into Canada.

√ Effective Jan. 15, 2022, reducing the number of people who are currently exempt from the vaccination requirement.

Higgins, who serves as co-chair of both the Canada-U.S. interparliamentary group and the congressional northern border caucus, discussed the testing policy with both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino during meetings in Washington, D.C., this week.

Higgins considers the testing requirement for vaccinated travelers to be redundant and a barrier to restoring the prepandemic flow of travel. He expressed his desire to see the requirement dropped for Americans in communications with President Joe Biden and Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S.

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