The Canadian Snowbird Association has asked Ottawa to exempt its members from mandatory hotel quarantine because the new rule was announced months after they left Canada for the winter.
The association, which represents about one million snowbirds, said Canadians who winter down south can safely quarantine at home after taking a COVID-19 PCR test upon arrival in Canada.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Snowbirds plead for exemptions to hotel quarantine Back to video
“To force Canadian citizens to pay over $2,000 for three nights of accommodation in a government-approved hotel is unreasonable and would be a hardship for many,” the association wrote in a letter to federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.
However, a recent opinion poll revealed that the vast majority of Canadians support the tighter restrictions on international travel announced by the federal government on Friday.
Eighty-six per cent of respondents agree with stricter measures that suspend flights to most sun destinations and require quarantining at a hotel at the passenger’s expense upon arrival in Canada, according to an online survey by Léger and the Association for Canadian Studies.
Thissitesuckshuge on February 3rd, 2021 at 15:50 UTC »
You’re going to have a tough time convincing people that $2000 will put people in a tough financial position as they return from their second homes abroad.
Edit: Too many posts to reply to so here’s this. If you’re on a fixed income and still have enough money to travel to another country, pay rent, taxes, electricity, water, transportation, food, and entertainment all the while maintaining another home elsewhere which also incurs these costs, your fixed income is pretty damn good and you have absolutely zero grounds to bellyache about additional costs for you to live it up in the sun while the rest of us work, freeze, and risk being infected daily to help pay for your services when you decide it’s convenient to come home. Bonus: you’ll likely get a vaccine before those you left behind.
So tell me more about the pain of living on a fixed income while you work on your tan.
Also edit: Awards, thanks very much.
pgriz1 on February 3rd, 2021 at 15:48 UTC »
In my circle of friends and acquaintances, all the usual snowbirds stayed home this year because they felt it was too risky either for themselves or for their families. I have very little sympathy for those who decided to do it anyways. They assessed their risk, and chose to do what for most people is a high-risk activity. There is a consequence to their risk assessment.
scrivener_nemo on February 3rd, 2021 at 15:29 UTC »
Today I learned that there is a Canadian Snowbirds Association.