The Canadian government announced an extension in the ban on Indian flights to Canada at the start of this week. They stated that the extension could last until August 21. It is to go easy on their pandemic travel restrictions for the world. India is one of the most important allies of Canada as India is the largest source of international students and immigrants. Nearly twenty percent of the country’s international students come from India.
Besides, the 2016 Canada census found out that almost 1.4 million people in Canada are of Indian origin. Denial of Indian flights to Canada is troublesome to both Canadians and Indians and is also a horrible threat to Indian-Canadians, Indians, Indian Families, and the economy of Canada. Initially, this ban on flights was because of the spread of a new delta variant of the virus with a higher transmissibility rate. However, there are other factors too that have lined up for the extension of the ban. The possible reasons for the ban are as follows:
Health Factors.
The Canadian government makes no compromises in keeping its people safe. It made sure to look into various factors like the vaccination rate and case counts in Canada and other countries while penning down its Pandemic travel policies. Moreover, it also checks the transmissibility and the efficiency of vaccines towards new delta variants.
The government of Canada stated that though they are making progress, the situation of India is still worse due to the prevalence of the new delta variant. They explained that they extended the ban on flights from India based on the advice of the medical council and scientific shreds of evidence, and it is the best they could do to keep Canada from the deadly delta variant.
Though health is the foremost concern of the Canadian government, they are other factors like the effect of the restrictions on the country’s economy that influence them. From August 9, Canada started welcoming tourists from the United States. Their only condition is that they Should be vaccinated totally. It comes between the increasing corona cases in the United States and the stagnation of the vaccination rates of the country. However, the United States has come up with an extension of the ban on tourists traveling from Canada to America. This decision makes us understand that there was no political pressure from the United States on Canada to let its tourists into the country. The major driving factors were the economic conditions and health issues.
As we discussed early, the increase in corona cases count in the United States has caused some media commentators in Canada to raise questions regarding lifting the Covid restrictions on tourists from America. On the other hand, industries with an economic interest, such as the tourism industry, celebrate the same decision. Before the global pandemic, Canada allowed nearly 15 million tourists from America every year. Tourism has supported the Canadian government by comprising ten percent of the Canadian jobs. The government is likely to feel pressure to open the Canadian border to American tourists though there are many reasons why they should not. It is because the prevailing pandemic is a massive threat to the economic progress of the country.
From this, we can figure out that reasons other than health factors might also play a vital role in the decision of the Canadian government on the ban on Indian flights.
Pressure from Designated Learning Institutions.
Groups that work on behalf of the immigrants, like the Confirmation of Canada Permanent Residence , face severe challenges due to the pandemic as the government of Canada has no particular interest in them. However, the Canadian business community backs the temporary foreign workers the Canadian Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs) support the international students.
International students are the driving force that remains the foremost revenue source for the colleges and universities in Canada. Since India is the prime source of international students, DLIs keep voicing the need to lift the ban on Indian flights before the commencement of the Academic year- August 21.
Political Pressure
Since the Canadian Prime minister looks forward to getting a majority government, we can expect him to call a new federal election shortly. This decision of Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, can lead to the lift of the ban due to the influence of Indian- Canadians on the election. The lifting of this ban will encourage the Indians to vote for him which, would support his electoral goals.
