Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada and the US are working on plans to deal with what she calls an inevitable increase in cross-border traffic as economies in both countries emerge from their pandemic-induced comas.

Freeland says traffic over the shared border is bound to increase as states and provinces reopen shuttered businesses and ease restrictions on personal mobility, even if the current Canada-US ban on non-essential travel remains unchanged.

That agreement, which has allowed essential workers and trade shipments to continue to move back and forth between the two countries, was first imposed in March and is set to expire on May 21.

Freeland says discussions about when and how to begin easing those restrictions are ongoing, both between Canada and the US and between the federal government and the provinces.

However, on Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford made crystal clear how he feels about the prospect of allowing visitors to Ontario from the US, where COVID-19 has exacted a brutal toll: more than a million active cases and 81,000 deaths to date.

“I do not want those borders open,” Ford said, noting that his counterparts in Quebec and B.C. feel the same way.

Screening at airports and border crossings will need to increase “tenfold” once the restrictions are lifted, he added.