Canada is strongly opposed to the idea of the United States putting troops near our shared borders.There are rumours that the White House is discussing the concept.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the two countries have worked collaboratively on many situations, including the recent non-essential travel agreement across our borders.

“Canadians and Americans are rightly proud to share the world’s longest un-militarized border. This is an important example of how our countries very effectively work together.”

Freeland says Canadian politicians, ministers and diplomats have made it clear to their American counterparts that they don’t believe this is a good idea, but in the end the U.S. is a sovereign nation which can make its own decisions.

As of Thursday morning, there have been over 475-thousand cases of COVID-19 confirmed globally, and in Canada there have been 34-hundred-9 cases and 35 deaths.

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, says 6 per cent of this country’s COVID-19 cases have required hospitalization, 2.6 per cent are critically ill and 1 per cent have been fatal.

“The fact that Canada’s fatality rate indicates that the health care system is not currently overwhelmed.”

She does note many of the deaths in Canada have been linked to long-term care facilities in several provinces so protecting the most vulnerable is essential by continue to follow public health guidelines.

Meanwhile, there will be random checks to verify that people returning to this Canada are following the 14-day quarantine.

Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam says anyone with symptoms will be given orders to immediately isolate.

“If they are mild symptoms and they can actually go in a private vehicle and get home, we coordinate with local public health to make sure they’re isolating. These are the ill people. If they can’t get home, of course we’re putting them in a federal quarantine place.”