Unvaccinated airport and airline workers – representing up to 10% of the workforce – who have been on leave since the fall will be able to return to work starting Monday, potentially easing the bottlenecks plaguing Canada’s biggest air transport hubs daily.
The federal government announced Tuesday that federally regulated employees no longer have to be fully vaccinated as of Monday, rolling back a mandate imposed on air, rail, and marine companies in October.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority says hundreds of workers at the 400-plus companies and agencies that operate at Pearson airport are currently suspended without pay.
“While vaccination rates have been high throughout the Toronto Pearson worker community during the pandemic, there are hundreds of workers across the Pearson ecosystem who are sitting on the sidelines due to this policy, and in a situation where we could use every trained and able body to support our recovery, this represents a very positive development,” the authority said.
Some observers suggest, however, that a surge of unvaccinated travellers will offset any boost in returned unvaccinated staff.
Nevertheless, Canadian Airports Council head Monette Pasher says the worst airport congestion should be cleared before the summer travel season is through.
Canada’s airport security agency says it has hired more than 850 security screeners since April, which along with the scrapping of randomized COVID-19 tests for international passengers as of last Saturday is already improving delays, the council said.
Aside from Pearson – the epicentre of Canada’s passenger gridlock – airports experiencing frequent delays include Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City and Kelowna, BC.
ArrivCan
Meanwhile, with the vaccination mandate for travel now removed, Canadian border city mayors, tourism industry leaders, and an opposition MP all say it’s also time to for the ArriveCan app to go too.
The mayors of Niagara Falls and Sarnia, Ont., say requiring visitors to Canada to submit their health information ahead of time is discouraging cross-border travel.
New Democrat MP Richard Cannings, who has six border entry points in his sprawling southern BC riding, agrees that it’s time to come up with a better plan.
They say doing away with the app is especially urgent now that Ottawa is lifting the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for domestic and outbound international travel.
Canadian and foreign visitors are still required to use the app or an online portal to submit their vaccination information to the Canada Border Services Agency ahead of time.