Despite pleas from many in the travel industry, including Canada’s largest airlines, for a clear plan to re-open travel, Canada’s transport minister said Thursday that it’s too early to set a date on loosening travel restrictions. Omar Alghabra said he could neither commit to a date, or COVID-19 vaccination rate benchmarks, for when so-called vaccine passports might allow Canada to implement such measures.

Speaking at a virtual news conference, Alghabra said decisions around the hotel quarantine for air passengers and eventual reopening of the border will hinge on public health advice and unspecified “data and evidence” tied to the pandemic.

“These decisions will depend on public health, will depend on data and evidence. At this moment I can’t give you a specific date,” he told reporters.

“We’re going to have all of these measures and all of these thresholds outlined in detail when we feel it’s time to do so.”

He added that the travel and aviation sectors will take off again “when it’s safe.”

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had suggested that a 75% vaccination rate of Canadians would be required for the Canada-US border to be re-opened to non-essential travel.

He added that Trudeau’s talking point of a “one-dose summer” and “two-dose fall” suggests when he “can see restarting some of the activities.”

“We could get ahead of ourselves. We don’t want to do that. But I want you to know that that work is being done right now,” he said of benchmarks and border restrictions. “As we’ve seen from COVID, things change very quickly. We’re still grappling with the third wave.”

Alghabra has stressed the need for a “common platform” to identify travellers’ vaccination status and said that he is working with G7 countries and the European Union to integrate vaccine certification into international travel in the months ahead.

The EU took a step toward relaxing travel rules for tourists from outside the 27-nation bloc Wednesday when ambassadors agreed on measures to allow in fully vaccinated visitors, though a date remains to be set.

The EU ambassadors also agreed to ease the criteria needed for nations to be considered COVID-19 safe and from which all tourists can travel, depending on their coronavirus and vaccination status.

Numerous jurisdictions have tied reopening plans to vaccination benchmarks, though travel components of those plans can remain elusive.