the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and DetroitRestricting the movement of people across the Canada-U.S. border has negative consequences for the Canadian economy, says a UWindsor research team.

Restrictions on travel between U.S. and Canada a threat over long term: researchers

Given the higher rates of COVID-19 infection in the U.S., a quick return to pre-pandemic border rules would have little popular support in Canada, but we need to start finding solutions now or risk long-term harm to the country’s economy, researchers from the Cross-Border Institute warn in an opinion piece published last week.

Bill Anderson, Marta Leardi-Anderson, and Laurie Tannous ask “What is the path to easing and ultimately eliminating border restrictions, without endangering public health?” in their piece for TheFutureEconomy.ca, a Montreal-based web publication that presents analysis on improving Canada’s competitiveness and sustainability.

“The conditions that precipitated the border restrictions in the first place are not going to disappear,” they write, while noting that given the internationalization of supply chains, trade is highly dependent on cross-border travel.

“The point is that being there still matters, and for Canadian business, being there often means crossing the border.”

Read the entire article, “Cross-Border Personal Mobility in the COVID-19 Crisis.”