Massena Deputy Town Supervisor Samuel D. Carbone Jr., left, and Massena Town Supervisor Steven D. O’Shaughnessy, back, listen as Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., addresses a group of dignitaries Wednesday afternoon at Massena International Airport. (Provided photo — Christopher Lenney, Watertown Daily Times)

MASSENA — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer urged the United States and Canadian governments to work together to reopen the border as quickly and safely as possible during a stop Wednesday afternoon at the Massena International Airport.

Canada and the United States have most recently agreed to extend the ban on nonessential travel between the U.S. and Canada through May 21. Leaders in both countries first announced the border closure on March 21, 2020, and have extended the order on a near-monthly basis since.

“We all know that border crossings are the key in the North Country economy. It’s estimated that Canadian travelers, over 2.3 million of them in 2019, came through the three land ports of entry along the St. Lawrence River, and they contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the North Country’s economy,” Schumer said.

“But, as you know, the border has been closed to all but a very few commuters,” he said. “In fact, border crossings are down 98% in Alexandria Bay and Ogdensburg and over 50% here in Massena.”

That, he said, has impacted several areas.

“That means that businesses that have robust cross-border activity have seen their bottom line slashed,” he said. “That means loved ones have been unable to see families and friends despite being minutes away. It means that property owners who own vacation homes on the side of the border that they don’t live on haven’t seen their investments in a year even though they’re paying taxes on them. And even this airport right here. It relies on Canadians crossing the border to fly to the U.S. So every aspect of life has been hurt.”

He added, “Now we just heard something else. The Canadian government is considering putting a tax on vacation homes that are underutilized despite the fact that Americans who own those homes can’t cross the border to go to those homes. I’m going to try to weigh in on that. I think it’s a big mistake.”

He said the border remained closed at a time when New York was seeing fewer restrictions.

“The good news is that New York’s going to be starting to reopen. Lots of people are getting vaccines. We made sure that there would be enough vaccines for everybody. Just line up and get a vaccine. You don’t need appointments anymore. I know a lot of people want to wait to see if it was OK, but now more than half our population has gotten the vaccine, no problems. With the vaccines and everything else, we’re getting back to life again,” Schumer said.

But, he noted, “Our border crossing is not getting back to life, and that’s what I’m here to talk about today.”

He said the “bottom line” was that the American and Canadian governments, including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security “and especially the Canadian government” needed to work together to get the border reopened as safely and quickly as possible.

“They’ve had monthly extensions,” Schumer said. “They haven’t come up with a plan. So every month everyone’s waiting and waiting and waiting, and you don’t hear much. Our frosty relationship between our president and the Canadian government is no longer there. So it’s time to get this moving.”

He called on both governments to do four things, the first being to establish a bi-national agreement on criteria for reopening the northern border.

“Let people at least know what’s going to be happening,” he said.

He suggested that benchmarks with “clear and concise” goals be established so everyone would have a metric to strive for and “end the cycle of frustration and confusion.”

“Arbitrarily extending this deadline every month without an explanation doesn’t provide any reassurance,” Schumer said.

His second suggestion was to redefine what it means to be an essential traveler.

“The bottom line is very simple. If you have a vaccine, you should be allowed to cross the border if you have any desire to go across the border. What they now say is essential is so narrow. So what I’m saying is immediately declare that any vaccinated individual with family, business, property, education, medical reasons to go across the border be deemed an essential traveler, and then work very quickly to allow anyone who can show they’re vaccinated to go across the border. We’re doing it for stadiums, we’re doing it for movie theaters, we’re doing it for restaurants. If you can show you’ve been vaccinated adequately there, you can do it here.”

The senator’s third recommendation, which he said was “the problem right here particularly,” was to allow recreational and commercial boaters to be able to cross into Canadian or American water “free from molestation or penalty.”

He said boaters launching in Massena could cross the Canadian border, “but you’re still on the St. Lawrence River. What’s the difference? As long as you’re not docking on the other side, why are they doing this?”

Schumer’s fourth recommendation was to fully equip all northern border personnel with equipment, testing and vaccinations so the border crossing would be safe.

“If we do these four things, it will be a real additional shot in the arm to our North Country economy, and I’m going to push hard to get our State Department to work with the Canadian government to get this done,” he said.

Benjamin Dixon, executive director of the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, thanked Schumer for his efforts.

“We all know that our proximity to Canada right on the other side of the river is really a part of who we are here in St. Lawrence County,” he said.

“We look forward to the plan that you laid out to get implemented so we can regain our international commerce with our neighbors to the north and look forward to Canadian tourism coming back to St. Lawrence County.”