The push to get Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to ease pandemic restrictions at the Canada-U.S. border, so far spearheaded by the American lawmakers, have now received additional pressure from within Trudeau’s own Liberal caucus, according to Politico.
According to the longtime Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who chairs the Canadian House of Commons finance committee and co-chairs the Canada–U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, Trudeau government must soon lay out a border reopening plan.
On the other side of the border, Rep. Henry Cuellar, whose district is adjacent to the Mexican border, said this week that U.S. authorities are poised to begin lifting restrictions at both American frontiers in June, but he doesn’t know if they’ll do it all at once or take a phased approach.
But Canada is approaching the border with more caution and Easter believes the opening of the border will depend on the evolution of the pandemic and vaccinations on both sides, pointing it will be crucial to provide the public with timelines and benchmarks.
When it comes to inoculation, Canada has caught up to the U.S. on administering first doses of the vaccines (53 percent), but trails when it comes to the percentage of people who have had both jabs with just 5 percent fully vaccinated as of Thursday.
Due to American pressure, it’s possible that the U.S. could start to reopen the border before Canada. Trudeau, on the other side, has not provided guidelines for the border but suggested that at least 75 percent of Canada’s population needs to get their first shots and 20 percent to be fully vaccinated before the country will start loosening public health restrictions.
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