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Canadians Overwhelmingly Favor Keeping Border With US Closed

Craig McCulloch

   VANCOUVER - Officials in both Washington and Ottawa agreed last week to
   keep the8,893-kilometer-longborder closed to all but commercial and
   essential traffic for at least another month, in an effort to help
   contain the spread of the coronavirus.

   This means only commercial goods and peoplesuchasnurses and doctors who
   live in one country and work in the other can cross.Travel for tourism
   or activities like retail shopping are banned.
   Started on March 20, the closure is supported by two separate opinion
   polls taken this month that foundmorethan80% of Canadians want the
   border to remain closed to non-essential traffic.
   David Webb is owner of the Ocean Rose Bed and Breakfast in White Rock,
   British Columbia. TheVancouversuburb sits right on the international
   boundary.Webb can seethe PeaceArch border crossing and the American
   border town of Blaine, Washington,from his home.
   Forty percent of his business is from the United States, but he agrees
   the border should remain closed for health reasons.
   "I agree with that," Webb said. "And one of the things that wehave
   tothink about is the people who have acompromised immune system. Both
   my wife and I have compromised immune systems, as do many other people.
   And it only takes one person with the virus to cause illness with many.
   And I thinkthat'swhat people are looking at here."
   One of the polls, done by Nanos Research forTheGlobe and Mailnewspaper,
   foundthat only3%of respondents think the border should openimmediately.
   Nik Nanos,chiefdatascientistatNanos Research, finds the results
   remarkable,considering how reliant Canada is on access to the United
   States.
   "Itkind of suggests that people who want to open the
   borderimmediatelyare less than a fringe of the population, basically
   less than one out of every 20," Nanos said. "And wedon'tusually see
   this type of consensus in the polling data where, you know, upwards of
   eight out of every 10 agree to such,what I would consider a drastic
   action, which is to close the border tononessentialvisitors. So, it's
   very unusual, but it speaks to the time andthe threatthat Canadians
   feel."
   Differences incoronavirusinfection rates are stark alongthe westernmost
   portion of the border.
   Washingtonstate reported its highest leveleverof infections at 1,267
   cases and six deaths on July 16.On the same day,the Canadian province
   of British Columbia had 21 new cases and zero fatalities.Nearly 6%of
   those tested in Washingtonstate were positive,compared toonly
   half-a-percent in British Columbia.
   Besides being the longest undefended international boundary in the
   world, the Canada-U.S.border also sees a considerable amount of
   business. The U.S.Trade Representative estimates that$718.5 billion in
   all types of trade crossed the border in 2018.That works out to just
   around$2billion a day.

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