New Brunswick’s premier has unilaterally decided to extend the Maritime COVID-19 bubble to include residents living near the Quebec-New Brunswick border. It is inconceivable that Premier Higgs deferred to expert medical advice when Quebec’s infection and death toll rates remain high. Unless this unilateral and politically expedient decision is revisited, Prince Edward Island will of necessity need to close its borders. Our own family will be seeking compensation for a forfeited rental deposit to a shoreside cottage near Malpeque.
New Brunswick has effectively extended the Maritime to include all of Quebec, simply because residents of la Gaspésie are free to travel anywhere within Quebec, before entering our province. Limed extension of the bubble is no different than roping off a “no-peeing section” in a public swimming pool.
Ironically, New Brunswick’s most recent cluster of COVID-19 cases also occurred in Campbellton – allegedly after one doctor’s brief trip to pick up his daughter in Quebec. Some other asymptomatic Campbellton resident could potentially spread COVID-19, while blithely vacationing throughout the larger Maritime bubble. Madness!
At last count, cities in six different countries needed to reimpose stay-at-home lockdowns. New Brunswick is taking unnecessary risks while eschewing needed precautions. An increased death toll is inevitable and Prince Edward Island will need to reclose borders unless political pressure can be made to bear and a politically-expedient, but ill-advised decision is reversed.
We would very much like to visit the Island this August and do our bit to bolster its economy. Please ask your own politicians to make their concerns heard, before the Aug. 1 deadline.
Thomas Mueller,
Rothesay, N.B.
