It is black and white. Non essential would traveling for a vacation. Traveling for work or medical reasons is essential.
I will disagree on the cross border workers. There are TONS of people who are jobless thanks to the pandemic. If we can close businesses and put some people out of work, the land border restrictions should also be applied uniformly to all travelers including those who work in one country and live in another......*if* your "black and white" theory is to be effectively applied. There are plenty of folks who could fill those vacancies in their own country of residence.
You have chosen to disregard my question about the movement of goods between countries. What essential goods can Canada not produce for themselves?
And no American needs to travel to Canada for medical care, if that is what you are referring to as "medical reasons". Care is much easier to source here than in Canada with far less waits and cutting edge research/technology. And I would be surprised if any Canadian would want to travel to the US for medical care, except in very dire circumstances, as it wouldn't be supplied here for "free" (or, in a more honest description, paid for by your taxes). If you have used "medical reasons" as another way of saying "humanitarian" reasons, then again......your black and white stance doesn't work.
I'll be backing out of this discussion now, as its very clear that some folks don't want to see the holes in their own logic. As someone who has a more unique perspective on this whole mess, let me leave with these parting comments: the current systems are SO flawed, and we absolutely need to do better. We need to demand more tests (and I think the newly imposed requirements are a great start). We need to apply the restrictions
uniformly and
fairly for them to work. We need to stop asking some people to suck it up, while letting other equally damaging situations continue on unchecked. It makes NO sense.....and the fact that Covid continues to be a national and global concern 10 months from the first outbreak is proof that what we are doing isn't working.
And all of this is true on BOTH sides of the border.
And man oh man, some compassion would be nice. What has happened to us as a nation? These kinds of discussions can be SO positive if we all just try and learn a little from each other. There are PEOPLE at the center of all of this, affected in so many painful ways. It would serve us all so much better to try and take a bigger look at everything and realize there's no easy, quick, or "black and white" answer. I want nothing more than a healthy Canada, because the people I love most are there and it is my home, first and foremost. And I can't wait to get back there as soon as I can. Not for a VACATION.....for my own sanity and mental health. Because that is just as "essential" as anything else.