Public officials, business owners in B.C. and Washington State call for Ottawa to end COVID-19 testing at land crossings

Public officials and business owners in border towns in both British Columbia and Washington State are calling on the Canadian government to end COVID-19 testing at land border crossings.

Starting Monday, travellers will no longer be required to take a PCR test, instead they’ll be given the option to take a rapid antigen test, which must be taken no more than one day before their arrival at the border.

It’s a slight loosening of the requirements, but not one struggling business owners like Cam Bissonnette are satisfied with.

"I can't say it in more certain terms: We absolutely have to get rid of this testing,” Bissonnette told CTV News.

Bissonnette owns duty-free shops in both Osoyoos and the Kootenays.

He says business picked up slightly when the federal government temporarily lifted testing requirements for 72-hour trips across the border in November, in the wake of the B.C. floods.

However, he says, right now his business is at its lowest point ever.

"We're down between 90 to 97 per cent; it's truly devastating," said Bissonnette.

Down in the small U.S. border town of Point Roberts, separated by water from the rest of Washington state, the president of the local chamber of commerce paints a dire picture.

Brian Calder says that because American truck drivers often have to go through multiple border crossings to get there, they’re constantly cancelling deliveries.

"We’ve had, in the last two weeks, $7 million of construction stopped," Calder said.

Calder says the cancelled trips have included concrete deliveries, which in turn puts Point Roberts trade workers out of work.

“Electricians, plumbers, dry wallers and all the rest, if they don’t have concrete, they don’t have a job,” he said.

Calder wants to see all border restrictions lifted immediately.

"It's shameful and it’s unnecessary,” he said. “They're wiping out Point Roberts, economically wiped out."

In White Rock, the chamber of commerce says businesses have not only be dealing with the impacts of the lack of American traffic, but also the fallout of the recent “Freedom Convoy” protests that have shut down the Pacific Highway border crossing.

“The status quo would be a big challenge for businesses,” said Ritu Khanna, executive director of the White Rock & South Surrey Chamber of Commerce.

"They're just hanging on and they really need a life line to get out of this.”

In a statement to CTV News, the Public Health Agency of Canada said:

“Border testing is an essential part of Canada's COVID-19 surveillance strategy. It helps detect variants of concern and variants that escape vaccines. Even fully vaccinated people can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. For this reason, screening of travelers prior to entry and upon arrival will continue. Each positive case detected reduces the risk of further community transmission in Canada.”