Federal Liberal cabinet weighing whether to lift remaining COVID-19 travel measures

By: The Canadian Press Posted: Last Modified:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

OTTAWA - The federal Liberal cabinet is considering whether to renew COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mandatory random testing for travellers.

Read this article for free:


By clicking the button above, an account will be created and you will begin to receive some of our recommended newsletters. You may opt out of any newsletter by visiting your Email and Communication Preferences page or by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of any email.

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2022 (1501 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – The federal Liberal cabinet is considering whether to renew COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mandatory random testing for travellers.

The current measures are set to expireon Sept. 30.

A senior government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters not made public says no decision has been made.

People wait in line to check in at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Thursday, May 12, 2022. The federal Liberal cabinet is considering whether to renew COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mandatory random testing. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
People wait in line to check in at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Thursday, May 12, 2022. The federal Liberal cabinet is considering whether to renew COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mandatory random testing. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Under the soon-to-expire rules, foreign nationals are typically not allowed to travel to Canada unless they have completed a primary series of an approved COVID-19 vaccine, unless they qualify for an exception.

Unvaccinated travellers who are allowed to enter Canada are subject to mandatory arrival tests and a 14-day quarantine.

Vaccinated travellers may also be selected for mandatory random testing — a system that public health officials have used as an “early warning system” for new variants of the virus entering the country.

The government contracted companies to run off-site test clinics in an attempt to alleviate congestion at Canada’s international airports.

The federal government has gradually scaled back COVID-19 travel restrictions over the course of the spring and summer, as booster shots became more widely available in Canada.

Cabinet “suspended” vaccine mandates for domestic travel in June, but Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc warned at the time COVID-19 vaccinations could become a requirement again if cases surged in the fall.

Public health officials and infectious disease experts have warned of a potentially large wave of new COVID-19 cases this month as students return to school.

But the Public Health Agency of Canada has also said the country is transitioning to a new, more sustainable phase of the pandemic.

The decision to renew the current restrictions or let them expire will be approved by federal cabinet ministers who are expected to meet in Ottawa early next week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2022.

Related Articles

Manitoba expands bivalent COVID-19 vaccine eligibility
MARKUS SCHREIBER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Only three per cent of Manitoba’s initial bivalent vaccine doses were administered within the first week of availability.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

One-on-one Journalism Training

0 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2025

Kelly Taylor / Free Press The BMW iX3 impressed with a flashy, unique approach to its interior, while on the road it was fast and nimble.

Shocking development

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read Preview

Shocking development

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

HOCKLEY VALLEY, Ont. — It’s not too often you get into a new vehicle, look at the interior, and say to yourself, “Wow, this is different… in a good way.”

Automakers tend to stick pretty close to defined norms, and when they differ, it’s not always successful. I’m looking at you, Toyota Yaris and Nissan X-Trail.

So, stepping into the 2027 BMW iX3 was refreshing. A bright parallelogram of a main touchscreen is closer to the driver than most, aided in no small part by pushing the instrument cluster to a narrow band just under the windscreen.

The effect is to clean up the look of the dash but without moving to a centre-mount instrument panel like the Yaris and X-Trail. The most valuable information (speed, battery charge, range) is right in front of the driver, visible above the top rim of the steering wheel.

Read
2:00 AM CDT
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ed Cuddy, manager of library services, says people who refuse to be screened will be turned away from the Millennium Library.

Security tightens at downtown library

Aldo Santin 5 minute read Preview

Security tightens at downtown library

Aldo Santin 5 minute read Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019

Users of the downtown Millennium Library will be subject to several new security screening measures, more commonly seen at airports and sporting facilities.

City hall announced Friday that effective Feb. 25, all visitors to the Donald Street library will undergo bag checks and be subjected to a hand-held metal detector sweep for alcohol and prohibited weapons. Visitors who refuse to participate will be barred from entering the library.

“The number of incidents (has) increased in the past four to five years, incidences involving violence, threats, alcohol, substance abuse and it was concerning. We met with police and our security contractor. After discussing, we came up with this course of action,” Ed Cuddy, manager of library services, told reporters. “We feel it’s a big change, but we feel it’s justified based on the kind of incidents we’ve been experiencing recently.”

Cuddy wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of the incidents, but did say library workers have not been the victims.

Read
Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019
FILE - This combination of photos released by the Washtenaw County Jail, shows David Daniels, left, and William Scott Walters, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Daniels and Walters were arrested in 2019 and accepted a deal to plead guilty to sexual assault of an adult, a second-degree felony. Both were sentenced to eight years' probation and required to register as sex offenders. (Washtenaw County Jail via AP, File)

Opera singer David Daniels no longer in singers’ union following sexual assault guilty plea

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Opera singer David Daniels no longer in singers’ union following sexual assault guilty plea

The Associated Press 2 minute read Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — Countertenor David Daniels is no longer a member of the union for singers following his guilty plea to a charge of sexual assault.

The 57-year-old and his husband, Scott Walters, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of an adult, a second-degree felony, in Houston's Harris County District Court on Aug. 4. Their accuser was aspiring opera singer Sam Schultz.

They both were sentenced to eight years’ probation and required to register as sex offenders.

American Guild of Musical Artists spokesperson Alicia Cook said Wednesday that Daniels is no longer a member of the union.

Read
Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023
(Facebook) RCMP traffic enforcement is seen in Steinbach, in September.

RCMP to bolster traffic enforcement after ‘concerning’ spike in deadly collisions

Free Press staff 3 minute read Preview

RCMP to bolster traffic enforcement after ‘concerning’ spike in deadly collisions

Free Press staff 3 minute read 12:46 PM CDT

Manitoba RCMP are boosting traffic enforcement after a spike in fatal collisions.

So far this year, 73 people have been killed in 65 collisions — a 28 per cent increase from the 57 deaths in the same January to October period last year, the Mounties said Friday.

The increase in fatalities is 28 per cent higher than the province’s five-year average.

“It’s concerning to me personally, but it’s also concerning to us, the RCMP, to see this many crashes occurring and this many people losing their lives,” RCMP traffic services enforcement commander Staff Sgt. Jon Greer said.

Read
12:46 PM CDT

Is Canada headed for time chaos this weekend?

Michelle Bastian 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

When Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew declared Sept. 17 that the province would remain on permanent daylight time, he suggested it was a historical moment people would share with their “great-great-grandkids.” But, while Sunday, Nov. 1 has been heralded as the date many Canadians will stop changing their clocks, there are rumblings behind the scenes suggesting this will actually cause more trouble than ever before.

There are, of course, the warnings from chrono-biologists and sleep scientists about the damage permanent daylight time will do. The lighter evenings will mean many more dark mornings. But there is another set of problems in the offing in the critical infrastructure that underpins our digital lives.

While it used to be common to spend the Sunday morning after a time change going around our homes updating the clocks, we now wake up to devices that have already adjusted to the new time. These automatic updates occur regularly for daylight time, as well as when we travel to new time zones.

Our clocks are able to change by themselves owing to the hard work of a group of volunteers who were recently named in a list of the people who hold up the internet. This group, led by Paul Eggert, a computer scientist at UCLA, maintains a little-known tool called the Time Zone Database. Since the 1980s, it has kept track of regional, national and international debates about clock time and provided an up-to-date table of what time it should be on our walls.