Spread of Omicron: Trudeau ready to reactivate the CERB "if necessary"

We will have to make sacrifices once again , warned the Prime Minister on Friday in a bar in his riding, in Montreal.

I know people are tired, he said. But you know who is even more tanned? Our healthcare workers. [...] They are exhausted, and if we arrive with a big wave after Christmas, [...] we will see our health system overflowing. That's why people still have to [make an effort].

And the federal government will still be there, he assures us. Leave to reinstate the PCU? I don't think so, but we are ready to do it if necessary , he said.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister says he has passed measures in the Commons which will make it possible to provide help to those who need it . We hope to need it less , he nuances. In any case, we will be there for people if necessary , he repeated.

Interview with Justin Trudeau

The measures adopted since 2020 have considerably weighed down the finances of the federal government, but Justin Trudeau denies spending without limits.

We made the necessary investments to [avoid] an economic disaster that could have been much worse than what we experienced, argues the Prime Minister. We knew it was better for the government to take on a little more debt to prevent households from taking on too much debt.

Canada is currently paying lower interest on its debt than before the pandemic, also argues Justin Trudeau. Yes, interest rates are very likely to start rising again at the beginning of 2022. But we have signed agreements precisely to be able to keep these rates low for several years , he assures us.

Should the borders be closed?

However, the threat posed by the Omicron variant is not only economic. Ottawa has also decided this week to revise its advice to travelers, to whom it again advises against making non-essential stays abroad.

The government considered for a time closing the borders, admitted Justin Trudeau. And this possibility remains a hypothesis , he says.

But I think we are not there, he continues. Besides, with Omicron already present everywhere, closing the borders altogether, it was not the best use of our resources , he admitted concerning the ban on entry to foreign nationals who have traveled to southern Africa, decreed last month and dropped on Friday.

To fight against Omicron, there are other things to do, underlined Mr. Trudeau. Like fighting community transmission, being there for testing, etc.

Review the situation at Roxham Road

The Prime Minister also promises to review the situation at Roxham Road. Reopened for almost a month, this passage again welcomes, night and day, a few dozen asylum seekers.

As a Radio-Canada report takes a behind-the-scenes look at a still thriving industry south of the border, Justin Trudeau agreed that this irregular migration won't last forever.

Currently, because of the Safe Third Country Agreement signed with the United States, migrants must apply for asylum in the first country they cross. However, this agreement only concerns official border crossings, which Roxham Road is not.

It is because of Donald Trump and what is happening in the United States that they [the migrants] chose to come , argued Mr. Trudeau.

The federal government hopes to come to a revision of this agreement next year, indicated the Prime Minister.

Bob Rae will not be scolded

As for relations between Ottawa and Quebec, Prime Minister Trudeau assures us that they have not suffered from the call launched by François Legault to vote Conservative in the most recent elections.

I do not take it personal , argues Mr. Trudeau, who nevertheless admits to having been surprised by the exit of his Quebec counterpart.

That said, the Quebec State Secularism Act, which made headlines recently after the reassignment of a veiled teacher in the Outaouais, continues to tickle him. And he certainly has no intention of snubbing his UN ambassador, Bob Rae, who denounced Bill 21 on Twitter last weekend.

We encourage our diplomats to express their perspective and their values, and it is in the values ​​of Canadians, including Quebecers, to defend the rights of minorities , he declared.

With the collaboration of Romain Schué