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Any new information on the latest announced travel restrictions please post here

his*marty

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Jul 28, 2020
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Yes, agree - this was a dumb approach under political pressure (esp from some provinces) to announce early, and clearly hadn't thought through the implications of what would be needed to distinguish between 'essential' and non-essential travel. (As a simple example, not just having rules about which is which, but also how to verify and who would do the verification and at what stage - before travelling abroad or on return?). Also clear that they did not do much planning in advance on this - at least certainly not in terms of having something ready-to-implement in case it got worse.

I don't even mean this in a partisan sense - unfortunately there are relatively few examples of governments in Canada that have done well at dealing with covid. (Leaving aside momentarily the occasional border-line covid denialist governments, that I'm not going to name). And I don't see any obvious correlation with party.

What's worse is that it also seems that some levels and parts of government that are non-partisan have also not dealt with it very well.

For that matter, with the possible exception of parts of Asia, there aren't that many examples of governments that have handled particularly well - just examples of those that obviously screwed up at key junctures.
Thank you for this intelligent comment. I agree 100%. These are the issues that I am having and for these reasons we continue to suffer.
 
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Lisaexpat

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Does anyone know the rules if you have had the Covid vaccine?
 

mahtax

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Dec 26, 2019
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This article implies that the restrictions will begin no sooner than February 14th, to give time for the airlines to repatriate all currently vacationing Canadians in Mexico & the other southern destinations with the cancelled flights.

Sun-seekers returning to Montreal through Feb. 14 are able to quarantine at home because the federal government’s plan for mandatory hotel quarantine is not ready to be rolled out.

The repatriation flights are scheduled to end by Feb. 14 — before the mandatory hotel quarantine begins.

But by the time the hotel quarantine rules come into force, likely in late February, the majority of sun-destination vacationers — apart from thousands of snowbirds — will have already arrived home.

At a news conference this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he wanted the new measures in place before the March break.
 

AmyL

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Mar 3, 2020
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This article implies that the restrictions will begin no sooner than February 14th, to give time for the airlines to repatriate all currently vacationing Canadians in Mexico & the other southern destinations with the cancelled flights.
It makes sense that they want to deter people from going anywhere for spring break. Honestly, it probably would not have spread so much if they had done more last spring break. I saw where someone did research showing how they showed cell phone data that indicated that people that went to just one beach in Florida over a week spread out all over the US and were related to numerous outbreaks in the early days of this. It's a shame that people make partying more of a priority.
 
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k.h.p.

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Mar 1, 2019
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It makes sense that they want to deter people from going anywhere for spring break. Honestly, it probably would not have spread so much if they had done more last spring break. I saw where someone did research showing how they showed cell phone data that indicated that people that went to just one beach in Florida over a week spread out all over the US and were related to numerous outbreaks in the early days of this. It's a shame that people make partying more of a priority.
BC was somewhat shielded from the onset of the first wave because the work-from-home and shutdown of certain businesses and schools happened before Spring Break (BC's spring break is later than ON and QC's) - so yes, I agree completely.
 

JohnnyToronto

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Does anyone know the rules if you have had the Covid vaccine?
No new details but I doubt this will be an exception. No real studies have been done that you're 100% immune if vaccinated so I think you still have to follow the rules when they take hold.
 

mahtax

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Dec 26, 2019
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The official website has been updated, now detailing the process by which they will choose their hotels. The deadline for hotels to apply is February 10th - Wednesday - at midnight.

Presumably the government will take a few days to select their hotels and a while to execute the plan.

It's looking increasingly likely for February 15-21st or thereabouts.
 
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JohnnyToronto

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We do not know yet.

The details of the program have not been announced.
What the feds have said, is that you must reserve this mandatory hotel stay prior to your travel home and show proof before boarding. I would assume that if you can't book it, you can't fly. Details of this fiasco would help, but alas, as of February 8th, there is still only wild speculation.

I started this thread not to get into political pissing matches like some of you have, but to keep people informed as those details are up to date.

Selfishly it was to crowd source info so I knew what steps to take to get my wife here on her COPR before this took effect. She flies from Colombia on Wednesday. I booked this flight 2 days after the gov't announced this change and gambled that they wouldn't be ready. Little did I know how ill-prepared they were but no regrets. I finally get to see my wife after a year and can start a new life together. Those that want to criticize people for flying in a pandemic don't know what it's like to go through a visa process for over a year and then forced to wait even longer apart because of a worldwide pandemic.

Please be civil here. We come to this forum for information to assist us in trying times. Be kind.
 

k.h.p.

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I would assume that if you can't book it, you can't fly.
NO. This requirement is not yet in force; you cannot book it at the moment but you can still travel to Canada.

When the program is finally implemented, we will find out what happens with bookings. But as of right now, it is not in force and you can travel to Canada if you have permission to travel (citizen, PR, essential traveller, etc etc etc)
 

Lisaexpat

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No new details but I doubt this will be an exception. No real studies have been done that you're 100% immune if vaccinated so I think you still have to follow the rules when they take hold.
Yes, but with 90% immunity you would think getting testing before you fly and again when you land and maybe 5 days later again would be more than sufficient. I know of some European countries like Estonia that waive the 2-week quarantine if you have proof you had the vaccine.
 

JohnnyToronto

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NO. This requirement is not yet in force; you cannot book it at the moment but you can still travel to Canada.

When the program is finally implemented, we will find out what happens with bookings. But as of right now, it is not in force and you can travel to Canada if you have permission to travel (citizen, PR, essential traveller, etc etc etc)
I didn't say it's in force. How can you book a hotel in advance that's not ready or been announced?! When it is in force, this is one of the possibilities of the program to restrict those landing at one of the 4 airports without the ability to follow the rule.
I ended that detail with "but alas, as of February 8th, there is still only wild speculation."
 

scylla

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