Canada and the United States have agreed to keep the border closed to non-essential travel through June 21, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in his press conference Tuesday.
The previous agreement was set to expire on May 21.
“The decisions that we are taking are very much made week-to-week in this crisis,” Trudeau said of the agreement. "The situation is changing rapidly and we're adjusting constantly to what are the right measures for Canadians to get that balance right between keeping people safe, and restoring a semblance of normality and economic activity that we all rely on."
Trudeau added that the Americans were "completely open" to extending the closure agreement.
That has the potential to impact the plans of all sports leagues to resume play, given that many athletes are not currently residing in the cities in which they play. With over 300 Canadian athletes in its league and six Canadian teams in its potential return-to-play plan, the NHL stands to be impacted the most by the border closure.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Sportsnet on Tuesday that the NHL remains "hopeful" that the border closure will not "materially affect the resumption of play timelines we are currently contemplating."
Trudeau was asked in a press briefing earlier this month about NHL players potentially being permitted to return to their team’s city before the border is reopened.
“I think it’s a question we’ll have to look into,” Trudeau said. “Certainly at a strict minimum, anyone who arrives from another country will have to follow all the rules of quarantine in an extremely strict manner (minimum of 14 days in self isolation), but we’re not there yet in our discussions with the NHL.”
“We recognize that it’s a possibility, but it depends on an enormous amount of things, and I don’t want to speculate on this until there’s more discussion.”
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