Editor:
This subject has been in the news ad nauseum, for more than 15 months: Point Roberts, Point Roberts, Point Roberts. Enough already. I’m tired of hearing about the myopic navel gazers, who are only concerned with themselves, their families, and their properties, who can’t see the Canadian forest for the American trees, and who are lobbying to have the Canada-U.S. border opened right now.
The fact of the matter is that the Canada-U.S. border remains closed for an entirely legitimate reason. The Canadian government is right to prioritize the health and safety of its own citizens- Canadians- because that is their mandate.
I, for one, am glad that the border is still closed to non-essential travel, until 75 per cent of us are fully vaccinated (with the exception of fully vaccinated Canadians returning home).
I don’t expect to get my second dose, for at least another month. After 15 months of diligently following “the rules,” I don’t want to get sick from a potentially life-threatening disease, when we are so close to the finish line. (The border will probably be opening within a couple of months anyway.)
If the last remaining grocery store in Point Roberts is going to close, because it is not profitable, then that is not a Canadian problem, to be solved by Canadians. That is an American problem, to be solved by Americans.
The problem of Point Roberts residents’ access to goods and services (groceries, medication, health care, etc.), was partially remedied by Gov. Jay Inslee earlier on in the year. The Salish Sea Express ferry crosses between the mainland of Washington State and Point Roberts, twice a week. The fact that it took so long so for Inslee and his well-paid staffers to “think outside of the box,” and come up with a temporary “American solution,” and that it may be inconvenient for some local residents, is not the fault of Canadians.
It is the fault of Americans like him/them.
A. Cameron