We have all been hearing about a looming CBSA strike. This strike could begin as soon as this afternoon at 4:30pm if no deal is secured between the union and the Federal Government. We of course are hopeful that a strike does not take place however, in the event that it does, we wanted to share this with our members.
This is a work-to-rule strike which means that agents will remain on the job and they will be doing their jobs by the book. This means that they could use all of the tools they have with each vehicle/person before they are permitted to cross. In other words, there will likely be long wait times.
In the past, during a strike, the flow of tourists was not impacted as much as the flow of commercial vehicles at most border crossings where they had more commercial activity. We have no indication at this time whether this is the route they may take if this strike action takes place today.
I know this is very troubling for our members and we are communicating with the Federal Government that we need our flow of tourists to continue without any challenges this year. We know that tourism business owners are already facing increased operating costs, increased debt load and that creating negative experiences for guests could impact their revenues now and into the future.
Our advice is to share with your guests that are travelling over the next few days to be prepared for long wait times at border crossings and to ensure they are well organized with their identification and a list of what they are bringing into Canada to make the process as smooth as possible. Other things to flag for guests is to ensure their boats are cleaned and drained of any water and that ATVs are cleared of any mud. Both of these two items are new directives to prevent the spread of invasive species and disease.
We will keep members posted as we get more details.
In the meantime, here is a CBC article from earlier this morning.