Ottawa will temporarily suspend random COVID-19 tests for airline passengers, but has upheld the domestic travel vaccine mandate, even as sources say most Liberal MPs agree with the Conservatives’ position to abolish it. On Friday, the federal government announced that it would stop imposing random trials on fully vaccinated travelers from Saturday. The suspension will be valid until July 1, when the random tests will be repeated but outside airports. The trials of unvaccinated travelers will continue, but will be removed at the end of the month. The changes are the latest attempt by the federal government to alleviate bottlenecks at airports, particularly in Toronto’s Pearson, leading to long delays, missed connections and flight cancellations. Ottawa has also hired more security control officers and is setting up more customs kiosks. The aviation industry and the Conservatives of the Official Opposition have blamed the airport chaos in part on federal COVID-19 rules and called for an end to testing policies and vaccine orders (applicable to international and domestic travelers and airport staff). Delays are also fueled by staff shortages, with airlines and security services trying to hire staff amid an increase in travelers. Morgan Bell, a spokeswoman for Calgary-based WestJet Airlines, called the suspension of the random tests a “step in the right direction”, but added that the airline wanted all the rules for the pandemic removed. Canada had already abandoned the mandatory testing requirement before arrival, but unlike the United States and many other countries, Canada requires domestic travelers to be vaccinated by air and rail. The United States on Sunday will lift the requirement for pre-arrival COVID-19 tests for people arriving by plane. The move is expected to increase the volume of visitors to the US and also reduce the delays faced by travelers departing for the US from Canadian airports. Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, who has been pushing for the termination of orders since February, said moving random tests off-site solves one problem but creates another, adding a different level of complexity to travelers. He said the government had not released any data to justify the orders, which it called “punitive”. Most other jurisdictions in Canada have abandoned their vaccination orders. A Canadian government website on COVID-19 in-flight transmission data, last updated in November, reported a study that found that vaccinated passengers were 74 percent less likely to become infected than those who were not vaccinated. . The impact of in-flight vaccine orders was not included in any studies, and most research was conducted before the vaccine became widely available, the website said. Last week, Ms Lantsman tabled a motion in Parliament calling on the federal government to “immediately return to pre-pandemic rules”. The proposal was supported by the Conservatives and Liberal MP Joël Lightbound but was defeated by all the other Liberal MPs and all the NDP MPs, the Bloc Québécois and the Greens who voted. Three sources in the Liberal parliamentary group said many of Prime Minister Justin Trinto’s lawmakers wanted the government to end the mandate of the domestic travel vaccine. This rule prohibits unvaccinated persons from boarding airplanes or trains traveling within the country. Some lawmakers also want the vaccine mandate for international air travel lifted, but sources said there is less agreement on this policy. The Globe and Mail did not identify the sources because they were not allowed to disclose the discussions at the party’s closed-door meetings. Last month, Ottawa extended its vaccination orders until the end of June. These mandates also cover federal and civil servants in the federally regulated transportation sector, including aviation and rail. Three major public sector unions have filed complaints against the orders, saying they are no longer justified when removed by other governments. Liberal MPs hear both vaccinated and unvaccinated voters say the mandates should be lifted. As other governments lift their restrictions, the contradictions are becoming more apparent, said Ontario Liberal MP Michael Coto. He said he consistently listens to voters questioning the value of a vaccine mandate for domestic air and rail travel, when they can spend as much time in bars or cinemas as possible without any rules at all. “People are now seeing conflicting policies,” he said, “that frustrates them and they need clarity.” New Brunswick MP Wayne Long said the domestic vaccine travel order helped vaccinate more people, but it’s time to lift it. The unvaccinated “can not continue to be punished,” he said, adding that there was a lack of scientific evidence to justify domestic orders. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has come under enormous pressure to find a solution to the airport’s bottlenecks. This week, he said Ottawa was “wrong in terms of public safety” and that it was continuing to evaluate the measure. The cabinet is considering various options for the different vaccine orders, but made the final decision until after the Ontario election, according to three other sources, aware of the talks. Mr Trinto initially opposed vaccine mandates, but changed his mind shortly before last summer’s federal election, in which sweeping mandates were central to his re-election campaign. On Friday, Public Health Chief Theresa Tam declined to give advice to the government on the continued value of vaccine orders, but said there were many different facts to consider. As of March, he said the government has evaluated all federal vaccine orders. Studies show that COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing serious diseases, but that a booster dose provides much greater protection against the Omicron variant, although it weakens after a few months. Nathalie Grandvaux, a researcher at the Center de recherche du CHUM and a specialist in viral infections, noted that vaccines protect against serious effects and can reduce the chance of transmission and infection from COVID-19, depending on when a person was vaccinated. “I think the order for the vaccine still helps, but if I had to choose what we have to keep at the moment and have to give something, I would keep the order for the mask and remove the order for the vaccine,” he said. Grandvaux. However, he said it is difficult to say definitively, in part because the arrival of a new variant could change the rating. Andrew Simor, an infectious disease specialist and microbiologist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center and the University of Toronto, said the lack of research into the impact of in-flight vaccine orders meant that decisions about them were based on personal judgment rather than in science. He noted, however, that the definition of “fully vaccinated” as two doses of an approved vaccine is outdated. With reference to Eric Atkins The Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
