Some Metro Vancouver cities are pausing or discouraging non-essential travel to the US for its staff members.
In this ongoing saga between Canada and the USA that was sparked by controversial decisions by US President Donald Trump, stopping travel to America is how some Metro Vancouver cities are responding.
The City of New Westminster was one of the first to rule that non-essential travel to the US would be discouraged for its staff.
According to the minutes from a recent New West council meeting, staff are not to “undertake any non-essential work-related travel to the United States until further notice.”
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In response to our request for comment, the City of Surrey told Daily Hive that it was “in the process of updating its procurement policy and other policies to reinforce a ‘Canada First’ approach and, as part of that initiative, we are indeed limiting non-essential travel to the United States.
“While essential travel may still occur if deemed critical, we believe taking these measures will help support Canadian businesses and protect our community’s interests during this period of economic uncertainty.”
While the City of Vancouver has not yet come to an ultimate decision on the matter, it did suggest that the idea was on the table.
“In keeping with the direction issued by Council on February 11 to evaluate potential measures supporting a Team Canada response to tariffs, staff will be reviewing restrictions on non-essential business travel to the US,” said the City of Vancouver in an email to Daily Hive.
We contacted several other Metro Vancouver cities to see if they would be following suit but have not yet heard back.
In a similar vein, Air Canada recently announced it was planning to cut US flights.