An Edmonton man who cannot fly due to lingering federal travel restrictions, said he's furious he'll have to shell out thousands to drive to PEI to attend his son's wedding..Eddie Arsenault, a 47-year-old welder by trade, runs a welding and structural steel company in Edmonton. Arsenault told the Western Standard he's furious he's unable to fly to PEI for the June 19 wedding..Arsenault, originally from PEI, moved to Edmonton in 2012 and is now looking to return home to attend his son's wedding, but is unable to fly due to his COVID-19 vaccination status. ."I chose not to be vaccinated because I don't believe in it," said Arsenault. ."First of all, it's my body, my choice and nobody has the right to force me to do anything." ."No one should be coerced or bribed with these vaccines. There's no need for this." .Arsenault said nothing he's seen so far convinced him the vaccines are effective or safe. ."But no one is listening. Our government isn't listening to the people," he said. .Arsenault explained he was prepared to buy a ticket in March and a round-trip flight with WestJet at the time would have cost $425. He said he was watching the prices in the hope the federal travel restrictions would be lifted at some point in the spring. ."I would have been gone from work for less than a week and it would have been much easier for me to fly," said Arsenault. ."But look at the price of gas these days. It's f---ing ridiculous," he said, expressing his full frustration more than once during the phone interview. ."This trip is now going to take two weeks for me to drive to PEI and cost me over $5,000 for gas, hotels, and food. And that doesn't even include what I am going to lose from being away from work for two weeks." .Arsenault said he mapped out the trip and it will take him more than 49 hours of straight drive-time, not including pit stops and sleep, to travel the 4,718 km to get to his destination in PEI. ."Mr. Trudeau isn't filling my truck for this trip," said Arsenault, clearly frustrated. "That's coming out of my hard-earned money." ."I'm a second-class citizen and I'm being discriminated against." .Arsenault mentioned he read the Western Standard's story covering ex-NHLer Ryan Whitney's real-time airport nightmare travelling from Edmonton, AB, to Boston, Mass. over the weekend. .Whitney, a former Edmonton Oiler, was in Alberta's capital over the weekend to catch Game 3 against the Colorado Avalanche, and called Pearson International airport in Toronto "hell on earth" while trying to return home to Boston on Sunday. .Arsenault said he was grateful these stories are being told, but also shared his frustration that "people like [Whitney], celebrities, and hockey players" have their stories shared by media when "everyday people get ignored." .The average price of gas in Edmonton for Wednesday is between $1.85 and $1.90 per litre. Arsenault said he will begin his lengthy trek to PEI Thursday morning and expects to pay approximately $200 per fill. He estimated he will likely need to fill up every 700 to 800 km, so six to seven times each way, for a total gas bill of around $2,800 to $3,000.."This is just a real nuisance having to drive all that way," said Arsenault. .On May 30, a motion to end the federal government's COVID-19 restrictions on travellers was brought forward by Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman. It was voted down 202 to 117, with the Liberals, NDP, Bloc Québécois, and The Green Party voting against the motion. .The Canadian Airport Council and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have both called for the federal government to drop all COVID-19 travel restrictions. They claim the rules are leading to crippling delays at Canadian airports..WestJet CEO Alex von Hoensbroech has also made public his strong opposition to the lingering travel restrictions and has called on the Trudeau government to drop all remaining mandates for both travellers and airline employees.
