Ontario Man Goes To Extremes To See Stateside Girlfriend

While there may be an end in sight, both Americans and Canadians have had their fill of the Border issue. But the International border closure wasn’t stopping one Ontario man from seeing his girlfriend here in the states this past holiday weekend.

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Oliver Collins is from Port Colborne, Ontario. His girlfriend Suzanne Weingarten lives here in Buffalo. In order to be together for the Fourth of July according to a story aired on WIVB-TV, Oliver had to buy train, bus, and airline tickets and then travel for nearly 24 hours just to get from Canada to the United States.

The drive from Port Colborne to Buffalo is typically less than an hour. But Oliver said he was willing to work around the border shutdown and do whatever he had to do to see his sweetheart.

“I had to get a ride to Niagara Falls (Ontario) yesterday, and then I caught a bus to Burlington,” he said. “Then I caught a GO train to downtown Toronto, then I caught the UP Express to Pearson (airport), from Pearson I had to fly from Newark, New Jersey – three-hour layover there, and then from New Jersey I flew to Buffalo.”

Canadian officials have said that they will not reopen the border until 70% of Canadians are fully vaccinated. Right now, Canada is 51% shy of that mark.

Pandemic restrictions on travel between Canada and the U.S. began to loosen Monday for some Canadians, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said plans to totally reopen the border would be announced over the next few weeks.

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