Canada’s travel industry finally got what it wanted – the lifting of requirements for vaccinated travellers to this country to test for COVID-19 before arrival. And let’s be clear, with copious evidence over two years into the pandemic suggesting that the measure did little to prevent the spread of the virus, never mind firewall it altogether, the time had come. But notably, that data was based on vaccinated travellers.

Now, however, voices are rising in support of knocking over the next domino: removing vaccine requirements to travel as well.

“We know that we will see a surge in bookings,” Beth Potter, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), told the Associated Press of the April 1 removal of testing protocols. But she added that the volume is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels and that Canada has a ways to go to let the world know it is ready to welcome visitors.

“Because our borders were closed for so long, longer than other countries in the G7 in particular, we kind of have a branding that says Canada is closed for business,” she added. “We need to be sending the signal that travel is safe now and lifting vaccine mandates would, I think, really help to rebuild confidence in travel again.”

Other voices, including the federal Conservatives, have also called on officials to do away with vaccine requirements for travel, or at least share more information about when the government plans to take that next step.

However, with Canada now “flat out” into a sixth wave, driven by a more contagious subvariant of Omicron called BA. 2, or stealth Omicron, and forecast to get worse, that time has not come.

As mentioned previously, I flew last week from Britain to Canada in the final days of testing. The procedure was cumbersome and annoying, but I admit that I did take comfort in knowing that everyone on the plane had passed the test, like me. More comforting was the knowledge that, like me, everyone was vaccinated. Especially during a new stage of the crisis that seems to have forgotten that it was supposed have turned into a pandemic of the unvaccinated, but is now affecting those with two or three jabs equally (if not to the same serious degree).

I silently applauded when a stern Air Canada flight attendant warned mask scofflaws in the row ahead of me that they were on two strikes and then out (of the plane?) the next time she had to speak to them again.

I understand the so-called freedom brigade feels the right to do as they please unburdened by any considered boundaries of civil society, but a passenger also has the right to be safe in their environment, especially one they have paid for, and no less so than being able to expect a safe plane, trained pilot, or untainted food or drink onboard – or to compare apples to apples, not being seated beside someone likely or known to be infected with measles or Ebola (or COVID).

Such as, perhaps, Guelph/Eramosa, Ont., councillor Corey Woods who, according to GuelphToday.com, ranted in session this week that, “I can’t get on the plane, train, or the bus. I can’t leave Canada (because) the dictator of Canada won’t allow the unvaccinated people to travel.”

Woods claimed to have recovered recently from a COVID infection with little fuss and in noteworthy contravention of his sensational view that “If you were to believe the media, I should be gasping for air now in a hospital bed in a ventilator.” (Ed note: To date, over 37,000 deaths in Canada and over six million globally have been formally attributed to COVID).

Yet he misses the point entirely that less self-centred people than himself also worry about spreading the virus to others more vulnerable than they are, including elderly loved ones.

A strong majority of Canadians agree: In a recent Angus Reid poll, 70% of respondents said they still believe that mandatory vaccinations should be required for international travel (including travel to the US). Six in 10, it might be noted, also still supported mandatory COVID testing to travel internationally.

I do believe the travel industry, which has been overwhelmingly supportive of the vaccination mandate, if not testing, during the course of the pandemic is focussed simply on the business (not moral) aspects of the issue. It’s understandable, but not unrelated.

That’s because a greater burden than maintaining mandates for a minority of willfully unvaccinated travellers is the possibility that the government could reinstate border restrictions in response to worsening COVID-19 conditions in Canada and abroad.

When Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced the change, he said it was possible because of declining test positivity rates at the border and improved vaccination rates among Canadians, and he reserved the government’s right to re-impose restrictions if deemed necessary.

Sandy White, whose family owns several small hotels in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec believes it’s hard to say which direction the public health measures for travel will go next, given the past ebb and flow of test requirements at the Canada-US border.

“We’ve seen government reverse course already,” he said, adding, “In some cases, it’s the right decision. Just because things are strict doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Even though we all hate the restrictions, in some cases they are the right thing to do.”

If the test requirements return, it would have a major dampening effect on the tourism industry, Potter agreed. As such, she wants the federal government to work with the industry and public health experts to come up with a plan to protect against future waves of the pandemic without shutting down tourism again.

It’s a worthy goal, and for now, at least, a plan that should retain the mandate that unvaccinated travellers stay home. The gain in otherwise setting that domino in motion does not outweigh the risk.