Everything old is new again and that apparently includes Canada. Our neighbors to the north have just ramped up their restrictions on international travel to a level that will constitute what amounts to a total ban in practice if not in name. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement yesterday at a press conference and the details are indeed impressive in their oppressive nature. The Associated Press provides most of the particulars.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travelers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30.

Trudeau said in addition to the pre-boarding test Canada already requires, the government will be introducing mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada.

“Travelers will then have to wait for up to three days at an approved hotel for their test results, at their own expense, which is expected to be more than $2000,” Trudeau said.

Anyone wishing to travel to Canada or any Canadians wishing to leave the country and come back will need to be tested for COVID before boarding a plane and then again upon arrival. They will then go to an “approved hotel” and wait up to three days for their test results to come back. Both the test and the hotel room are to be paid for by the traveler, so you can expect to shell out more than $2,000 for that. Then you’ll have to move into self-quarantine for the rest of the two week period – even if you tested negative – and do so “under significantly increased surveillance and enforcement.”

That last bit certainly sounds ominous. But the cost alone will probably be enough to keep the vast majority of people from trying to enter or reenter. For those still planning to travel, after you move into the self-quarantine stage you will have to take yet another COVID test ten days later, again at your own expense. If at any stage you produce a positive test result, you will be relocated and forced to quarantine “in designated government facilities to make sure they’re not carrying variants of particular concern.”

Yes, all of this has been done because the British and South African variants of the virus have turned up in the United States. And since they are currently considered to be more contagious, though not significantly more deadly, Canada wants to make sure we don’t export them up north. We should really schedule a Zoom call between Trudeau and some of our own “experts” in America who told us ten months ago that travel bans don’t work.

Hey, it’s up to Canada how they handle such things and if they want to shut down the borders and the airports, that’s their business. Or I should say that’s Justin Trudeau’s business since he implemented these new rules without having them passed through the legislature.

While he’s in the mood for answering questions, however, we might want to toss one or two his way. Is this ban going to apply to all of the Canadians who have been day-tripping to the United States to use up our supply of vaccines? Or doesn’t that count?

We should also remind the Prime Minister that travel bans are racist, as we have been so frequently lectured about by our friends in the mainstream media. In this case, the racism can be easily measured. America may still be a majority Caucasian country (barely), but we’re one heck of a lot more racially diverse than Canada. If it weren’t for their significant Indigenous population, the “Great White North” would take on an even more literal meaning. I await our betters in the media lecturing Trudeau about his inherently racist tendencies.