Transport minister defends ‘cautious’ approach to airport testing and reopening

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With the local community up at arms about federal rules that require expensive tests to cross the border and keep Windsor airport closed to international flights, Canada’s transportation minister chose an explosive moment to visit the city on Wednesday.

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On both issues, Omar Alghabra defended his government’s positions as “cautious and prudent” approaches in the ongoing fight against COVID-19, despite the local furor that erupted the day before over Windsor’s delisting from a list of eight additional airports. who were allowed to take international flights. flights. On Wednesday he met with local politicians and business leaders. In a meeting with more than a dozen attendees, each person raised the airport issue, Mayor Drew Dilkens said. Although he did not offer any promises, Alghabra responded that he and his ministry were “very vigilant” on the issues, according to the mayor.

“I give him credit for coming here and putting himself in the lion’s den the day after that announcement. I knew that announcement would generate some negative conversations in the community, but it’s here. He heard from everyone around the table. “

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In an interview, Alghabra said he sympathizes with the Windsorites’ arguments, but cannot say when the airport will restart international flights despite the clock ticking with the return of Sunwing’s seasonal flights to tropical destinations, for years a popular trip. option before the pandemic turned things off.

“The reason I hesitate to give you an answer is that I don’t want to give you an answer that turns out to be wrong,” he said. “So I’m cautiously optimistic, but we have to wait and see.”

He said there is a reason the government is reopening airports to international travel in a gradual approach. “Because we want to see how it develops.”

Starting November 30, eight more airports (in Hamilton, Waterloo region, Regina, Saskatoon, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Victoria and St. John’s) will be added to the 10 airports in Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa , Toronto and Toronto Island. , Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver already allowed international flights.

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The city currently faces a year-end deficit of $ 13.1 million, when losses caused by COVID in the city-owned tunnel ($ 6.6 million) and the airport ($ 3.5 million) are included. Before the pandemic, both the tunnel and the airport were moneymakers, each providing the city with dividends of $ 1 million a year. Airport officials were seeking the resumption of international travel to help recover their finances.

“I understand why people are eager to see (the resumption of international flights) happen as quickly as possible and I sympathize with that,” the minister said. “But we have to take the cautious and thoughtful approach that we have taken from the beginning.”

The minister took the same approach to the testing requirement, which has drawn harsh criticism from Windsor residents who long to reunite with family across the border once the United States begins allowing non-essential border crossing for people. fully vaccinated on November 8. they are being hampered by the cost of $ 200 per test for a Canadian government-required PCR test. Critics have also questioned the point of allowing people to get tested here before crossing into Michigan, provided they return home within 72 hours. Those tests give no indication of whether he contracted the virus in Michigan, they say. Dilkens also said that getting tested while in Michigan doesn’t make sense because it can take 72 hours to show if it’s positive.

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“The $ 200 stops hikers, but the test itself is not indicative of whether you are COVID positive if it was for a day or two,” the mayor said. “That is why it is less tolerable for people to accept it, because every day it seems less reasonable.”

The city council approved a motion Monday asking the feds to cancel the test requirement.

But Alghabra insisted that the test requirement is an “essential element of our public health approach to dealing with the pandemic.” While he said that the testing requirement was never intended to be a cost burden on people, he added: “I listen to you and we will constantly evaluate and re-evaluate what measures we can adjust, but for now it is an integral part of our approach. “

Also on the Alghabra agenda on Wednesday was a visit to Ojibway Shores, described as the last remaining undeveloped natural coastline in Windsor. The 33-acre property is owned by the federally controlled Windsor Port Authority and was under threat of development until recent years, when a public uproar sparked a rethink and the city took action to save it. More recently, Environment Canada and the city signed an understanding to explore the creation of a national urban park, likely comprised of the Ojibway Shores and the hundreds of acres of wilderness in the Ojibway Complex. The parties are currently involved in discussions on how Ojibway Shores can be transferred.

“I would like to see a positive conclusion from this discussion, so I am following it closely,” Alghabra said. “I would love to see this finalized and finally designate the park as a national urban park.”

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