The mayor of Kamloops says he was able to ask questions about travel restrictions earlier this week to the Public Safety Minister.

Ken Christian says he was one of about 150 mayors and regional district chairs around the province on a conference call with Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth and Minister of Municipal Affairs Josie Osborne on Tuesday afternoon.

“I had an opportunity to speak with them about a couple of things. One is the issue related to Albertans coming into the Interior Health area, and the second part is who is going to pay for these road checks. We don’t want to have our over-stretched police department doing this kind of work.”

Christian says he was assured police resources for road checks will come from the RCMP E-Division in the Lower Mainland, and not from any specific municipality.

He also says the province has no legal way to intercede travel between Alberta and B.C.

“The public should not jump to conclusions based on license plates,” Christian adds. “Right now, during the TMX expansion project in Kamloops, we have a number of workers in Alberta who are working here very legitimately and are doing so quite safely.”

That said, Christian is asking people not to travel if they don’t have to.

“It’s [road checks] largely a recommendation that hey look, we want this pandemic to be behind us. The faster that will happen is if we all comply with the circuit breaker recommendations. That, plus lining up and getting our vaccinations will mean that things will get back to normal much faster.”

Circuit-breaker restrictions, which ban indoor dining and group fitness classes, are in place until May 25. So too are travel restrictions that were announced last week, which formally limit travel to-and-from the Lower Mainland.

Full details on how enforcement will work on travel restrictions are expected to be announced on Friday morning, when Minister Farnworth holds a news conference at 10 a.m.