Greater Niagara Chamber asks government to drop ArriveCan app

Fort Erie Council got the ball rolling. Niagara Falls Council added to the call. Now the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce is sounding the alarm.

All three groups want to see the ArriveCAN app dropped from being a border-crossing necessity.

GNCC President Mishka Balsom penning a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking that he lift the remaining restrictions, notably ArriveCAN, as cases of the virus decline across the country.

“The ArriveCAN app is particularly burdensome and causes significant delays at crossings. Unfamiliarity with the app and the technology lead to confusion among travellers andslowdowns at the border,” wrote Balsom.

She added, “We suggest that the difficulties which ArriveCAN creates at border crossings are not worth the limited public health benefits it offers.”

And much like Fort Erie proposed, she wouldn’t seeing pretty much all restrictions fade away to pre-pandemic levels.

“With the Chief Public Health Officer reporting declining COVID-19 indicators and as other pandemic-related restrictions have been removed across the country, we feel the time is right to re-evaluate Canada’s border crossings,” said Balsom.

Balsom said the pandemic restrictions have been particularly onerous for Niagara businesses, more so than other regions.

“The Ontario Chamber of Commerce reports that over $36 billion of the province’s economic activity stems from tourism, and Niagara is one of the most important tourist destinations in Ontario and in Canada. Tourism brings more than $2 billion to Niagara’s economy each year, and supports between 40,000 and 60,000 local jobs.”

Keeping Americans away only hurts, she added. “A significant amount of that revenue is provided by Americans crossing the border, but also by tourists from further afield, who are less numerous but, on average, stay longer and spend more than domestic tourists.”