This article is part of Watching Washington, a regular dispatch from CBC News correspondents reporting on US politics and developments affecting Canadians.
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A prominent US Republican has weighed in on the debate surrounding ArriveCAN, the travel app the Canadian government introduced for cross-border travel during the pandemic.
She wants it gone.
Elise Stefanik, a part of the Republican leadership team in the US House, a representative of the border district of the state of New York and a staunch ally of Donald Trump, has written to the Canadian government.
This week he wrote to Canada’s ambassador in Washington with a request: Stop requiring people to use ArriveCAN if they want to enter Canada.
Stefanik called the implementation of a failed travel ban without any public health purpose. All it does now, he said, is confuse people and make them less likely to cross the border.
In his letter to Kirsten Hillman, he said confusion about the application is worsening border wait times and causing people to choose to stay at home at a time when countries should be encouraging the ‘cross-border association.
“This requirement discourages travel, impairs the flow of commerce, and burdens travelers with submitting private health information,” Stefanik added in a statement.
What is the context?
The debate over ArriveCAN has been going on in Canada for some time. It so happens that in this case the number 3 Republican in the US House of Representatives, best known for her staunch defense of Trump during his impeachment trial and in his attempt to overturn the last US election, has entered
Mayors of Canadian border towns are calling on Ottawa to scrap the app, as are businesses and a border district US Democrat, Brian Higgins.
The Canadian government has admitted that the app has occasionally suffered from errors, giving wrong instructions to travelers. Some people entering Canada report receiving outdated instructions urging them to self-quarantine.
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The Buffalo News also urged Canada to reconsider. “It doesn’t work,” the paper said in an editorial this week. “And it’s hurting both economies.”
The New York State newspaper called ArriveCAN a good idea and relatively simple to use, but said it has outlived its usefulness, especially as businesses that rely on tourism around Niagara Falls they are still suffering from the decrease in foreign travel and are desperate for cross-border travel. visitors
What follows
The Trudeau government has given no indication that it intends to remove the app. Federal officials say the app saves time by automating questions about vaccination status, rather than having travelers answer them verbally.
Ottawa says it has fixed a bug that affected some iPhone users.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has suggested that ArriveCAN could be used in the future as a way to automate customs checks, which Australia has done.