“Who’s advocating for Canadians?”
Remotely addressing the members of the Point Roberts Taxpayers’ Association PRTA board during their May 13 virtual meeting, Stephen Deller, who lives in Canada and owns vacation property in Point Roberts, asked that the association lobby border authorities to deem it essential travel for property owners to come and check on their homes.
“I understand the public health perspective, but there should be an exception made for homeowners,” he said. “It should be considered essential, coming to see your property.”
“The taxpayers’ association certainly aims to represent our Canadian as well as our U.S. members,” PRTA president Mark Robbins said. He added he could see the need for an exemption if a serious problem occurred but “not like mowing the grass and a drink on the deck.”
Deller suggested it was also appropriate to allow Canadian property owners the opportunity to retrieve property left on the U.S. side before the travel restriction were put in place.
“I asked at the border if someone could push my canoe through the border,” he said. “They said ‘no way,.”
Some Canadian property owners are reported to have circumvented the closure of the land border to all but essential travel by taking to the air.
Flights from Vancouver to Seattle continue to be available three times daily, and San Juan Air has a scheduled flight from Bellingham to Point Roberts every Tuesday. The restriction against non-essential travel only applies to land borders.
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