By Amy Ramsay

Locals react to B.C. travel restrictions

Apr 21, 2021 | 4:13 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – With the recent announcement by B.C. Premier John Horgan that the province is restricting all non-essential travel, signs have been put up along the Alberta-B.C. boundary telling travellers not to enter unless it is essential.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he respects B.C.’s decision but won’t be implementing similar measures and says this is a strong advisory to Albertans.

Here in Medicine Hat, one woman CHAT News spoke with believes limiting inter-provincial travel could have a serious impact on individuals but won’t have much of an impact on curbing case numbers.

“I don’t think that it’ll probably make a huge difference because people are gonna do what they want to do, whether it’s outside of the borders or inside. If we all try to follow the rules we can try and curb it but I don’t know if the inter-provincial is really what’s increasing the case numbers at the moment,” said the woman.

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When it comes to closing down the provincial boundaries, others are concerned about medical appointments.

“I just don’t think it’s worth it at all. Plus when you live in places like Medicine Hat in the small communities, a lot of people have to travel to Calgary, Edmonton for medical issues, like my mother-in-law. Her specialist is in Calgary so she has to travel, not all the time but there’s some people that have to, so what would happen to them?”

One individual commented on how many people are wanting life to return to normal.

“There again, some people have to travel for medical, and same again, they’re not going to stop and see the sign from B.C. and say wait a minute I’m just going to stop here. I think it’s, we’re just all done, we’re all just tired, we’re ready to move on with our lives,” said another woman.

Right now, the Alberta government is still encouraging people to avoid non-essential travel but remains hopeful that with the vaccine rollout, travel could get back to normal this summer.