Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. The emergence of the Omicron variant is worrisome, but the government is intervening swiftly by strengthening border controls. For example, the government is imposing stricter screening and entry requirements at the border, increasing monitoring of new variants and working with public health to better understand the epidemiological situation in Canada.

These public health measures are based on science and evidence provided to the government. I don’t have a detailed answer to your question about the scientific basis and specific Health Canada recommendations that led to the decision to block international flights. I’ll let you know as soon as possible once I get more information from the government.