Lopsided COVID-19 Border Rules Cause Headaches for Busy Canadian Factories

A U.S. and a Canadian flag flutter at the Canada-United States border crossing at the Thousand Islands Bridge, which remains closed to non-essential traffic to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada, on Sept.r 28, 2020. Reuters/Lars Hagberg/File Photo

MONTREAL/OTTAWA—Some Canadian manufacturing executives are complaining that the country’s confusing and lopsided exemptions to strict COVID-19 border controls have hurt their sector’s competitiveness just as the country faces weaker growth and a resurgence in new infections.

For example, foreign technicians considered “essential” are being allowed into Canada and not required to quarantine, while Canadian workers returning from doing similar work in the United States have to self-isolate for 14 days.