Canada-U.S. land-border closure has been extended to Dec. 21

OTTAWA-Canada and the United States will extend COVID-19 restrictions on non-essential cross-border travel for at least another month, to Dec. 21, the Star has learned.

A senior Canadian government official told the Star the agreement initially reached in March with the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has been renewed, by mutual agreement, for another 30 days, with no end date set.

The deal allows the north and south flow at land crossings of essential workers, like health-care professionals or truckers carrying goods, but it puts restrictions on non-essential travellers.

Canada has tweaked its limits on non-essential travel to make it easier for international students, couples and those with a dying relative to enter, however they are still subject to a 14-day mandatory quarantine order.

Although the U.S. election this month saw Joe Biden named president-elect with a vow to crack down on the spread of the coronavirus south of the border, COVID-19 continues to ravage America.

And public opinion polls show most Canadians do not want the border reopened at this stage.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians to avoid wintertime snowbird" travel south.

Canada's official travel advisory is that all Canadians should avoid international travel. The pandemic continues to cause significant challenges around the world including in the southern United States and people are safest when they stay at home in Canada," he told reporters.

Obviously if people do choose to go, that is their choice but they need to make sure that they have good health insurance, good travel insurance, also that they make sure that wherever they're going there is sufficient health care capacity, that it is not busy and beginning to get overwhelmed if something goes wrong. But that's why as a government we recommend people not travel internationally while this pandemic is going on."

Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc