Sarnia's mayor and MP believe the U.S. and Canada should have reopened their border crossings to fully vaccinated travellers at the same time.
Mike Bradley and Marilyn Gladu each spoke with Blackburn News about the Canadian government's handling of the border reopening.
"I think we got outplayed by the Americans," said Bradley. "I think we should've said to them 'if you're not going to reopen to vaccinated people, we're not either,' so we do it together. We entered this crisis together, we should've exited together."
Fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents were allowed into Canada for non-essential travel for the first time in nearly a-year-and-a-half at 12:01 a.m. Monday. Canadian travellers wishing to go to the U.S. will still have to wait until at least August 21.
Gladu said she doesn't understand why the federal government failed to negotiate reciprocity.
"I mean if the Americans that are double vaxxed can come here, why can't Canadians that are double vaxxed go there? We can fly there but we can't cross the land borders, so I'm calling on the [federal] government to immediately address that."
Americans coming into Canada will need to prove they have had two doses of a Health Canada-approved vaccine and documentation on the ArriveCAN App. They must also provide a negative molecular test for the virus.
Both Bradley and Gladu agreed that the safety measures in place for American visitors are necessary.
Bradley said he would not support the reopening of the border to unvaccinated Americans, or any other part of the world, at this time.
"The fact that Americans have to be vaccinated, the fact they have to have pretesting and testing when they arrive here, I think will be an obstacle for a lot of people -- not the normal day-trippers that come across just for the day -- but I don't think that's a bad thing. I think that safeguards put in place are good safeguards to protect the public."
Gladu said we've seen that those who are double vaccinated are not at risk of dying now, even from the delta variant.
"And their hospitalization risk is greatly reduced. [Proof of vaccination] is a good measure, but the reality is that Canada has higher vaccination rates and less delta variants," she said. "[The federal government] seems to have lots of plans of letting people into our country, but what about restoring the freedoms of Canadians?"
Gladu said there's certainly an economic benefit to allowing fully vaccinated American's across the Blue Water Bridge.
"In addition to that, there are people who have been separated from their properties for multiple years and their properties, in some cases, are in need of repair," she said. "There have been heartbreaking stories of people who have loved ones who are dying and they've been unable to visit. So, this is a step in the right direction. We want to do it safely, but we want to make sure that Canadians have the right to go to the U.S. for those same reasons."
Bradley shared a similar message on the benefits of reopening the border.
"There will be some benefit to the tourism sector. Places like Niagara Falls and this region, if you look at the major festivals, they have suffered greatly," he said. "There's one area that I think it will be of great value and that's the humanitarian area -- people reuniting that haven't been together for 18 months."
Bradley added that he doesn't expect to see a huge rush of travellers coming across the border quite yet.
"There's a great deal of concern and I would say the public mood shifted again the last week or so with the large number COVID cases developing not just in the U.S. but elsewhere. Yes, if you're vaccinated you're better protected, but the fact is you can still receive COVID."
Americans were lined-up at the Blue Water Bridge for over an hour before 5 a.m. Monday.
