Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his decision to maintain border restrictions related to COVID-19 on Wednesday, much to the chagrin of the Canadian tourism industry.

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“We are still in a pandemic. I know that there are many people who want to pretend that it no longer exists, but we are in a pandemic and people are dying every day in hospitals because of COVID-19”, exclaimed the first. minister at a press briefing in Ottawa.

On Tuesday, federal public health announced that Canadian borders will remain closed to unvaccinated tourists until at least June 30. Properly vaccinated foreigners can come to Canada, provided they do a PCR test beforehand.

These off-putting conditions do nothing to help the tourist industry, which was hoping for relief.

The Prime Minister assured that he was aware of the consequences of the extension of border measures for tourism.

“But what would also hurt, you know, our tourism industry is a new wave. If we still have significant impacts from COVID-19”, however pleaded Justin Trudeau.