Quebec and Ontario premiers write letter to Trudeau asking for more border restrictions, limits on flights

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier Francois Legault wrote a letter on Thursday to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking for stricter border measures which they believe will help contain the spread of COVID.

"The rising number and percentage of COVID-19 cases that are identified as variants is a concern for us all," opens the letter, and continues:

".... In the third wave, the spread of infection as a consequence of new variants of concern is increasing at an alarming rate. We are seeing a steady increase in positive cases despite the measures currently in place."

".... To protect the lives and well-being of our citizens, to ensure the health system is not further stretched, and to give time for the vaccine roll-out to protect the people Canadians, we need the federal government to further strengthen measures at air and land borders."

".... We ask you to strongly consider the following: 1. Reduce mobility of COVID-19 variants by further reducing incoming international flights. 2. Roll out further protective actions and the Canada-US land border."

Legault said later in a statement, "We would like to reinforce the measures regarding international flights (from) India and Brazil,"

"Second, for people coming from the United States on the ground, we would like to see more measures, including quarantine, to make sure we prevent the increase in the number of people infected in Canada."

The letter has the letterhead of both the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, but it is rumored that other premiers will soon join their voices with those of Ford and Legault.