Lawmakers demand reopening US-Canada border to 'keep economies on path to recovery'
File photo / Peter Van Allen
From the Lost Fishermen's Memorial in Lubec, Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada, is across the Lubec Narrows.
Citing economic and other reasons, a group of lawmakers including U.S. Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, and Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, are calling for the U.S.-Canada border to be fully reopened.
“Since the land border between the United States and Canada was closed on March 21, 2020, families have been divided, tourists unable to explore both nations, and business has been encumbered,” says a letter Friday to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
"Easing travel restrictions will allow families and friends to reunite after more than a year of separation, facilitate tourism along the northern border, and relieve burdens on cross-border businesses.”
The two-page letter, which was also signed by the congressional representatives of New Hampshire and Vermont, comes less than two weeks after U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, expressed optimism about the reopening of Maine's border with New Brunswick. However, there's no concrete plan in place.
The letter notes that while the border closure was necessary for public health during the height of the pandemic, those restrictions may no longer the needed for vaccinated individuals, and urges Mayorkas to consider allowing vaccinated Americans and Canadians to cross the land border to visit loved ones.
As for the economic rationale, the letter cites Canadian statistics showing that tourists from that country spend an average $19 billion on average in the United States every year. In Maine, Canadians spent $290 million during 2017, according to the most recent data available from the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service.
In March 2020, when the pandemic first hit Maine, the number of people coming from Canada to Maine by car fell 42%.
"Allowing vaccinated tourists to travel between our two countries will spur job creation on either side of the border and keep our economies on the path to recovery," the letter says. "You should also seriously explore if it is now safe for vaccinated tourists to travel between the United Sates and Canada."
Noting that 298 Canadian-owned businesses employ 17,000 New Englanders, the letter goes on to say that the border closure has made it difficult to conduct cross-border business.
"Letting vaccinated individuals move across the land border for business travel will stimulate the American and Canadian economies by reducing a significant barrier to business operations," the lawmakers write, mentioning the many sacrifices Americans and Canadians have made to get through the pandemic.
"While the crisis is not yet fully behind us," the letter concludes, "the time has now come for you to evaluate whether restrictions are still necessary due to improving public health conditions in both of our nations."
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