Trudeau keeps summer travel promise for Canadians

Canadians could travel abroad in the summer, if all goes well.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late Tuesday that summer travel for Canadians could be possible if vaccinations continue and Canada's COVID-19 numbers continue to fall.

He also said Canada is prepared to adopt some form of vaccine passport for international travel, even if the United States does not do the same.

"We're all hopeful that we can get back to normal in the next few months and start traveling again," he said. "But the reality is we're not there yet. We need to vaccinate more and more people across the country and bring the numbers down.

"However, we also know that as people start traveling again, perhaps this summer, if all goes well, it would make sense to align with partners around the world on some kind of vaccination trial or vaccine certification. We're working on that now with allies, particularly in Europe.

"But ultimately it's up to each country to determine what requirements they expect from incoming travelers."

"From the beginning we're trying to align with our partners, particularly the United States. That's what we've done with the land border from the beginning," the prime minister said. "Ideally we would have similar measures, but our responsibility is to do whatever it takes to protect Canadians and we're going to do that, even if there's no automatic symmetry with other countries."

Trudeau said again Tuesday that vaccination passports or vaccination certificates are nothing new, noting that many countries require visitors to be vaccinated against cholera or yellow fever.

"For us and European countries as well, we are looking at the question of vaccination certificates as to whether they would be useful or necessary for travel once we get over the pandemic," the prime minister said in French.

Asked whether Canada might require a certain number of Canadians to have both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine before raising such questions, Trudeau said his government will follow scientific experts. But he also said Ottawa must ensure the system is "fair to all."

Speaking on the weekend, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said Ottawa is working on the idea.

"Canadians should be able to have the right kind of certification for international travel because, as we know, Canadians will want to travel internationally and will want to make sure they have the right credentials to do so from a vaccination perspective." the minister commented.

SOURCE: IMPACTING TRIPS / JIM BYERS