‘No evidence’ Arrivecan is a travel hindrance
Minister points chiefly to labour shortage
• Transport Minister Omar Alghabra defended the government’s Arrivecan app Friday, saying despite the claims of customs officers, airlines, airports and border communities it is not a hindrance to travel.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that Arrivecan is causing any problems,” he told MPS at the commons transport committee.
He said, while there are still problems, air travel is improving and becoming more reliable. He said, by collecting vaccine information in advance, Arrivecan speeds up the process.
“There are those who have a vested interest in embellishing reality and undermining confidence in our airline sector only to score political points,” he said. “Arrivecan is actually helping process arrivals much faster and helping reduce congestion.”
Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman said the government should be removing the app and doing much more to improve travel in the country. She highlighted the long waits, delays and cancellations, especially at major airports.
“We know that Pearson and Montreal have been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 of worst airports in the world. That is an international embarrassment.,” she said.
“Does the minister believe that the government bears any responsibility, in any way, of what has transpired this summer?”
Alghabra said a huge surge in travel has been the main driver of problems in airline travel, saying that Canada’s flights have surged more than 250 per cent since January, compared to just a 63 per cent increase in the U.S. He said that surge came with an industry that was short of people.
“I’ve been consistent since May. Labour shortage is the root cause of airport congestion; labour shortage at airports, labour shortage at airlines, labour shortage at other agencies,” he said.
Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli, who represents Niagara Falls, argued Canada should follow the lead of other countries and remove vaccination requirements and throw out Arrivecan at the same time.
“Sixty countries around the world have abandoned all air travel pandemic restrictions, including most of our European allies. So why does this government continue to cling to these restrictions, which only do a disservice and disincentivize travel to this country,” he said.
Alghabra said the Conservatives were too quick to dismiss COVID protections and had done more damage to cross-border travel with their support of convoy protests.
“It’s unfortunate that the Conservatives never took COVID seriously. It’s unfortunate that the Conservatives supported these illegal blockades blocked our borders and had a massive impact on border communities have not apologized for it to this day,” he said.
Baldinelli said his community has 40,000 people working in the tourism sector.
He said they were being deeply hit by reduced border travel and after two years of pandemic restrictions, this year’s rules are self-inflicted.
“We’ve lost two tourism years because of COVID. This year if we lose it, it’s self-inflicted, and there’s nobody to blame but this Liberal government,” he said.
In the last few weeks, representatives from the Buffalo and Fort Erie Bridge Authority and an association representing Duty-free stores called on the government to scrap Arrivecan saying it was reducing traffic and increasing wait times.
Mark Webber, president of the Customs and Immigrations union, testified to MPS in June and said the app forced his members to become IT consultants to help people fill out the app.
“Every border officer working on the front line will tell you that the implementation of the Arrivecan application has seen processing times skyrocket,” he said at the time.
Airlines and airports across the country have also called for the app to be scrapped.
Bureaucrats speaking after Alghabra also defended the app, including the Canada Border Services Agency which said it speeds up processing.
Failing to use the app can come with a heavy fine for travellers.
Jennifer Lutfallah, a vice president with the Public Health Agency of Canada, said the government has handed out about 190 fines, a very small number given the overall number of travellers.
She said the department aims to avoid handing out fines if at all possible, offering to allow people to fill in paper forms and help them with technical problems, but some people simply refuse to use the app or provide the information.
“Those individuals are individuals who are repeat offenders or simply will not comply.”