{"id":597102,"date":"2026-04-11T13:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597102\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T13:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:36:08","slug":"canadians-encourage-resolution-new-poll-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597102\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadians encourage resolution, new poll says"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Cuba\u2019s power grid continues to take a hit with rolling blackouts and a U.S.-imposed energy blockade, Canadians want Ottawa to encourage a resolution, according to recent data from Nanos Research.<\/p>\n

A survey commissioned by CTV News shows a slim majority, 54 per cent, of Canadians want the federal government to encourage the United States to ease the restrictions that are affecting energy shipments to Cuba.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump began restricting oil shipments to the Caribbean country. The blockade has led to widespread fuel shortages and nationwide blackouts, at times leaving the country\u2019s 10 million people in the dark.<\/p>\n

The Nanos data suggests 38 per cent of Canadians don\u2019t want Ottawa to get involved in U.S.-Cuba relations and another eight per cent were unsure.<\/p>\n

The energy crisis continues to impact hospitals, food transportation and the country\u2019s tourism sector. <\/p>\n

Several resorts had to consolidate guests or close temporarily during what are typically considered peak travel times for the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt went from what was supposed to be a great season (for tourism), to nil,\u201d said Travel Secure Inc. president, Martin Firestone. \u201cTravel has gone to zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Energy crisis leads to tourism decline<\/p>\n

The survey comes about two months after all Canadian airlines suspended service to Cuba indefinitely. <\/p>\n

Since mid-February, the Government of Canada\u2019s travel advice<\/a> has urged Canadians to \u201cavoid non-essential travel to Cuba due to worsening shortages of fuel, electricity, and basic necessities including food, water, and medicine.\u201d <\/p>\n

International airlines, including American Airlines and Delta, are still offering flights into the Caribbean country. <\/p>\n

Due to the Canadian government\u2019s travel advice, Firestone says vacationers who travel to Cuba with other airlines wouldn\u2019t be covered under cancellation or interruption insurance, if the fuel shortage impacts their trip.<\/p>\n

Most people aren\u2019t travelling to Cuba in the off-season, from now until October or November, anyway, Firestone said. But he believes it could be even longer before Cuba\u2019s tourism sector rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould this problem get corrected, I\u2019m not sure who\u2019s running back there at all in the near future, because you\u2019ve still got a host of issues,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In early February, Canadians were stranded in Cuba<\/a> as the energy crisis worsened.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Courtesy: Donna Van Leusden) Van Leusden meets with Cuban medical staff to deliver supplies. (Courtesy: Donna Van Leusden) <\/p>\n

Ottawa resident Donna Van Leusden travelled to Varadero with her family at the end of January, right before flights were suspended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit nerve-wracking, but we\u2019d been really reassured that things were good there,\u201d Van Leusden told CTV News.<\/p>\n

The energy crisis didn\u2019t impact their family vacation, but the looming threat had already turned away many other guests.<\/p>\n

The resort was at 25 per cent capacity, she said, with \u201cnext to no one\u201d at all the usual tourist hot spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really disheartening because the people of Cuba depend so much on tourism dollars and things are really, really tough there right now,\u201d Van Leusden said.<\/p>\n

Van Leusden and her family booked their trip through a group called Not Just Tourists that gives medical supplies to travellers, who then take it to local clinics and hospitals in other countries that need it.<\/p>\n

She says her visit to the Cuban hospital was a highlight of the trip. She\u2019s already planning to go back next year, if the fuel shortage is resolved and Canadian airlines resume service by then.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people are beautiful. It\u2019s such an incredible country and the spirit there is so open and kind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Cuba\u2019s power grid continues to take a hit with rolling blackouts and a U.S.-imposed energy blockade, Canadians…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[712,49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-597102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}