'Beautiful part of the world': Northwestern Ontario MP encouraging people to spend summer travelling close to home

The Liberal MP for Thunder Bay - Rainy River in northwestern Ontario is encouraging people to spend their time and their money close to home this summer.

"It's a beautiful part of the world," said Marcus Powlowski, who is also an emergency room physician in Thunder Bay.

"If you're on holiday, you don't want to spend all your time worrying 'am I going to catch something.' So I think you have to be cautious." And in the case of a global pandemic, that may mean not venturing more than a couple of hours from your house.

He explained that in discussions with those in the travel business, public health and the larger health care community, the general consensus is that "because the numbers are really quite low in northwestern Ontario, it's pretty safe to travel locally."

"That doesn't mean the chances are zero that this could result in some spread of disease.. But for the sake of the economy of northwestern Ontario, the benefits of travelling locally really outweigh those risks," said Powlowski.

The tourism industry across the region has been particularly hard hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of the Canada/U.S. border, with some outfitters in the riding reporting revenue losses of 80 per cent or more because of the lack of American visitors, he said, adding that he is fighting for more financial assistance for the beleaguered businesses. .

"A lot of people have been telling me that they figure they're going to go under as a result of this year and the borders not opening," after it was closed in the spring to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

'Things aren't going well south of the border'

But what he's hearing now from many people, including those in the travel industry, is that they would rather see more local visitors than a rush to reopen that international border.

'Things aren't going really well south of the border,' said Powlowski. "I'm still hearing from leadership of the hospitals both here in Thunder Bay and in Fort Frances, asking that we keep the borders closed. Of recent weeks I've heard from a number of tourism operators that seem to concede that they don't think they want the borders open either, given the kind of high rates that are going on in the States."

Powlowski said, regardless of where you travel, it's important to continue to practice physical distancing, frequent handwashing and wearing a mask in indoor spaces.