The Ontario government wants Ottawa to impose mandatory three-day hotel quarantines at land crossings including the Blue Water Bridge.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones have formally made the request in a letter to the federal ministers of public safety and health.
They say in the past two weeks, over 150,000 people – not including essential commercial truckers – have crossed Canada’s land borders. They claim that includes dozens of individuals who crossed between April 24 and April 26, after travelling from countries where direct flights to Canada are currently banned.
The province said federal quarantine rules are being bypassed by travellers who book return flights into nearby U.S. airports, take a taxi or limousine to a land border crossing, and then walk or drive across the border.
Milton MPP Parm Gill said for months the province has been calling on the federal government to close the loophole to stop the flow of new COVID-19 variants into Ontario.
"By them walking over they don't even have to be subject to the mandatory hotel quarantine measures that are in place at our airports," said Gill. "This is a serious loophole that exists and we are encouraging the federal government to address it immediately."
The province wants a three-day quarantine in federally designated hotels at the highest traffic crossings including those in Sarnia, Windsor, Niagara, and Brockville.
"We need to look outside the box to make sure that we do have enough hotels in and around these border crossings to make sure that they have the ability to accommodate this, Gill said.
He said the initiative would be enforced the same way the federal quarantine program is being enforced at Canadian airports.
-With files from Colin Gowdy
