Exclusive: Trudeau Government Has Spent $145M on COVID-19 Travel Measures
March 29, 2021 Marsha Mowers
Nearly $145 million dollars. That’s the amount the Federal Government of Canada has spent to date on pandemic border, travel and quarantine measures.
Canadian Travel News asked the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) for the specific cost of the quarantine programs which include both the (free) isolation facilities in place since January and the mandatory three-day hotel quarantine that took effect February 22.
In an email to Canadian Travel News Monday afternoon, the PHAC said $144.7 million was spent on “enhanced border and travel measures and isolation sites.”
It is unclear if that number includes the $1million dollars spent on the anti-travel ad campaign set to end this month.
The amount is from April 1, 2020 to February, 28, 2021 and includes:
– the federal designated quarantine sites across Canada;
– a strengthened national border and travel health program including enhanced compliance and enforcement such as home checks;
– safe voluntary isolation spaces in municipalities; and
– enhanced surveillance initiatives to reduce COVID-19 importation and transmission at points of entry
The numbers were to be a follow-up to a recent Canadian Travel News article that posed the question was travel being unfairly targeted as a source of COVID?
When looking at the most recent data from PHAC, of the total new cases in Canada, 47 reported exposure to a traveller and 59 cases reported travelling outside of Canada, both less than 0.5%.
In total, of the 807,202 cases as of March 20, 2021, 6,636 cases in Canada reported exposure to someone who travelled (less than 0.5%) and 8,202 cases reported traveling outside of Canada (1%).
About the Author
Marsha Mowers made the move to editorial side of travel after many years working in destination marketing where she represented places such as NYC and Las Vegas. Her experience on “both sides” of the industry has put her in a unique position to provide valuable context to both readers and trade partners. Marsha also serves as Director of Content for TravelPulse Canada
