Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Thursday that it would be " still many weeks " before the full reopening of the border between Canada and the United States, which has been closed to non-essential travel for more than three weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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He was questioned at his daily press conference in Ottawa on statements the day before from US President Donald Trump, who said that border restrictions between the two neighbors would be "among the first to be lifted ." " Canada is doing well, we are doing well, so we'll see but at some point, that's what we are going to do, " said Donald Trump over the border.
For Justin Trudeau, " the reality is that it will still be many weeks " that will be needed " before we can talk about relaxing the restrictions on our borders, " he said. We " must protect our citizens, as every country does, " said the Prime Minister. " Most countries in the world have restricted travel, and Canada and the United States are no exception ." More direct, Chrystia Freeland, his Deputy Prime Minister, said that reopening Canada's borders would be a decision made by " Canadians ".
The lifting of the current restrictions on non-essential travel will be done when it is " appropriate and there is no risk to the health and safety of Canadians, " she said. About nine times less populated than the United States, Canada counted Thursday about twenty times less cases of new coronavirus and thirty times less deaths than its American neighbor. But the two provinces most affected in Canada, Quebec and Ontario, border New York State, the epicenter of the epidemic in the United States.
The two countries had by mutual agreement decided to close their border on March 21 for 30 days, except for the transport of goods and goods, totaling each day 2.4 billion Canadian dollars (1.6 billion euros) of exchanges on both sides of the border. More than 400,000 people cross the border between Canada and the United States every day, the longest in the world with nearly 8,900 km, according to official figures.