Premier John Horgan seeks legal advice on closing borders

CHEK

Within a few minutes of his first news conference of the year, Premier John Horgan dropped the news he’s musing about closing the province’s borders.

“We have open borders within Canada. Of course, we were first in line back in March to call in the federal government to close our international borders. And I think we’ve all benefitted from that,” Horgan said on Thursday.

An emergency room doctor in Whistler recently voiced concerns after treating a “worrying” number of patients from Ontario and Quebec.

Now Horgan is seeking a legal opinion to see if it’s possible to restrict interprovincial travel.

“We do have challenges though when it comes to mobility within Canada. We’re getting further legal advice on that.”  Horgan said.

With four cases of the UK COVID-19 variant and one of the South African variant all now confirmed in BC, Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, said it’s more important than ever to be vigilant about travel.

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“We were one of the first provinces calling for border measures from international borders. And we still need to make sure that those are strengthened. We know there have been challenges. We see that with the new variance we’ve been following lately,” she said.

While she ruled out a public health order preventing non-essential travel, she discourages anyone travelling anywhere.

“At my level, and my understanding the premier’s level have been talking to our colleagues across the country in a need to stay put. Unless there are essential reasons for travel, interprovincially as well,” Dr. Henry said.

A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute indicates the majority of Canadians favour prohibiting any type of personal travel.

Horgan says he may have more details early next week on a potential travel ban.

CHEK News’ Political Correspondent Rob Shaw discusses the legal issues at play for a potential interprovincial travel ban

CHEK News' Political Correspondent Rob Shaw discusses the legal issues at play for a potential interprovincial travel ban

CHEK News' Political Correspondent Rob Shaw discusses the legal issues at play for a potential interprovincial travel ban

Duration 1m

 

Mary GriffinMary Griffin

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