New figures reveal that quarantine hotels have cost taxpayers over a third of a billion dollars, which is the highest amount disclosed so far. .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, these expenses amount to over $17,000 for each traveller who was provided shelter for 72 hours..“The costs associated with this program included lodging, meals, security, traveller support and transportation,” said a department of Health briefing note Designated Quarantine Facilities. .“A total of 22,188 travellers were quarantined or isolated at designated quarantine facilities between March 22, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2022.”.The June 19 note put total costs at hundreds of millions. “$338.7 million was expended on designated quarantine facilities,” the equivalent of $17,500 per traveller. The data were “not previously published only as accounting continues given the program was recently cancelled,” said the note..Cabinet last October ended the Quarantine Act policy of 72-hour hotel stays for cross-border travellers arriving in Canada without proof they were COVID-free and had a “suitable place of quarantine or isolation.” .In total, 38 hotels were chosen to accommodate travellers who needed to quarantine..“Maintaining these facilities as a contingency was an important part of protecting Canadians,” said the briefing note..“Between March 2020 and September 2022, a total of 38 sites were designated as quarantine facilities,” said the note. .“Upon the elimination of the border measures on Oct. 1, 2022, the Public Health Agency was managing 17 designated quarantine facilities and had access to rooms in one provincial site with a total room capacity of 1,465 rooms for travellers in 14 cities across Canada.”.According to the Public Health Agency's 2021 budget documents, the cost of quarantine hotels is estimated to be $225.6 million..“The quarantine is in place for a very important purpose,” then-Health Minister Patricia Hajdu said at the time. .“It allows for the clearing of a test for a person to be tested for COVID and for Canada to receive the results of that test prior to any onward travel.”.The Auditor General recently released a report Enforcement of Quarantine and COVID-19 Testing Orders, which described the program as a costly failure..“This is not a success story,” Auditor General Karen Hogan told reporters on Dec. 9, 2021. .“I am concerned the Public Health Agency is unable to show us whether or not these border measures are effective.”.The costs of quarantine hotels were never explained. .Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, AB), in an Inquiry of Ministry last Jan. 31, uncovered a $26.8 million payment to one hotel, the Westin Calgary Airport, to quarantine 1,490 travellers..“Of course, we have time to look back and learn from those lessons,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra told reporters. .“At the time, we did what we felt was necessary to protect the health and safety of Canadians.”.“Doesn’t that seem excessive?” asked a reporter. .“During the pandemic, we did a lot of extraordinary things to protect the health and safety of Canadians, unimaginable things that none of us imagined,” replied Alghabra.
