Rideau Canal boat traffic higher than pre-pandemic levels

A boat on the Rideau Canal on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.

OTTAWA -

Boat traffic along the Rideau Canal in July was higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, new numbers from Parks Canada show.

The number of boats travelling along the historic waterway in July was 6.2 per cent higher than in 2019, the agency said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

There was also a 24 per cent increase in mooring along the Rideau Canal in July 2021 compared to two years earlier.

The canal is also much busier this summer than last year, when tighter COVID-19 restrictions were in effect. Parks Canada says boating traffic was up 44 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2020, while moorings were up 81.9 per cent.

Parks Canada did not provide a breakdown on boat traffic at each of the lock stations along the Rideau Canal between Kingston and Ottawa.

Ontario entered Step 2 of Ontario's Roadmap to Reopen plan on June 29, while Step 3 began on July 16, easing restrictions on travel and gatherings across Ontario.

Parks Canada notes while boating traffic was up 70 per cent in June 2021 compared to June 2020, there was an elevated restriction period last year.  Boating traffic in June 2021 was 16.2 per cent lower than June 2019.

"The 2020 operation season on the Rideau Canal World Heritage site was like one we have never seen, as the global pandemic changed how we were able to provide services and limited who we could welcome to our sites," said Parks Canada in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

"The Rideau Canal commonly welcomes boaters from across the country, particularly from the province of Quebec, as well as a community of American boaters that visit us on a yearly basis.  During the 2020 season this was not possible as our borders, both provincial and national, were closed and so the majority of our boaters were local within Ontario."