Ford & Legault Are Calling On Trudeau To 'Protect' Canadians & Tighten Border Restrictions
Both premiers are concerned about growing cases fuelled by "new variants of concern."
Quebec Premier François Legault and Ontario Premier Doug Ford are asking Justin Trudeau to tighten up Canada's border restrictions to protect against new COVID-19 variants of concern.
In a letter sent on April 22 to Canada's prime minister, Legault and Ford write that Canada should reduce the number of incoming international flights and beef up protection at the Canada-U.S. land border.
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"We are concerned about the growing number of cases attributed to variants, which arrived in Canada through international travel," the premiers wrote in their letter, which is dated April 22. "To protect the lives and well-being of our citizens [...] we need the federal government to further strengthen measures at air and land borders."
"There is an urgent need to address issues with testing and quarantining at the borders, including falsified COVID-19 testing documentation, travellers opting fines over complying quarantine requirements or travelling via private vehicle/plane to avoid quarantine, among several other areas of concern," wrote Ford and Legault.
On Wednesday, Quebec officials told MTL Blog they had found Quebec's first case of a new COVID-19 virus variant strain — named B.1.617 — that was identified in India.