NOT AN OPEN AND SHUT SITUATION

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is waving off suggestions that the Canada-US border will reopen any time soon. Trudeau says Canadians are looking forward to the day when incidental cross-border travel can “eventually” resume.

But he says that discussion is not for today, and that people on both sides of the border will have to keep waiting patiently for the COVID-19 pandemic to abate.

Trudeau’s recent conversations with President Joe Biden and other US officials have rekindled the debate about reopening the border.

Biden is cautiously hopeful that accelerating vaccination efforts will allow Americans to gather in small groups by the July 4 weekend.

New York congressman Brian Higgins says it should be possible to reopen the border by then, with a partial opening before the end of May.