OTTAWA – Transport Minister Omar Algabra says the federal government is working on new measures to help alleviate delays at major airports, adding that a “similar phenomenon” is happening around the world.
Speaking to reporters on the way to a weekly Liberal meeting, the minister said working groups that include airports, airlines, public health and federal officials meet up to three times a week to try to find solutions.
But when asked for details on when changes are expected, Algabra says he is not yet ready to announce new measures.
People traveling through Canadian airports are experiencing long queues and flight delays as travel after the pandemic increases, especially at Toronto Pearson Airport.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says the Canadian Border Service and the Canadian Air Security Agency are hiring new staff, adding that it is important that airports also ensure they have enough staff.
Conservatives are urging the government to lift travel restrictions that require anyone returning abroad to confirm their vaccination status and stop using the ArriveCan app and stop random tests for COVID-19 at airports.
“From the lowest point of the pandemic, travel has risen 700 or 800 percent in that range,” Mendicino said on Tuesday.
“Currently, the latest statistic we have is that approximately three percent, only three percent of all travelers to Pearson and Vancouver International, wait more than half an hour.
Algabra said the federal cabinet spoke about the mandates regularly, as it had said during the pandemic, and “sometimes we will make adjustments.”
“It’s also important to note that this is happening at airports around the world,” Algabra said. “I’m not saying this to say there is no responsibility here.”
The Canadian Airport Council issued a statement Monday calling for an end to the mandate to vaccinate passengers and aviation personnel, saying it “now has a different standard” for these groups than for other Canadians.
In an interview last month, interim council president Monet Pascher said random tests and customs public health questions meant that it took four times longer to process people than before the pandemic.
It was good when people weren’t traveling, she said, but now it’s become a serious problem because airports just don’t have the physical space to accommodate long queues.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 8, 2022.
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