Amherst mayor David Kogon is condemning the blockade underway at the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border, but says the action shows the level of outrage after Tuesday’s announcement from Nova Scotia premier Iain Rankin.
Less than 24 hours before borders were set to re-open, Rankin announced that New Brunswickers would not be exempt from isolation restrictions, though those restrictions would be adjusted according to vaccination status. People who got their first dose over two weeks ago, about 500,000 New Brunswickers, would be required to isolate in Nova Scotia for about one week, until they received two negative tests for COVID-19. Nova Scotians returning from New Brunswick would face the same restrictions.
In a briefing today, Premier Blaine Higgs said that the Atlantic premiers will be meeting Wednesday night, and he is confident the bubble will be re-established soon. Over in Halifax, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin told reporters that by June 30, “New Brunswick will be back in the bubble”, a timeline that was not included in Nova Scotia’s recent announcement.
The situation calls for more coordination between the two Atlantic premiers, says David Kogon.
Hear David Kogon on Tantramar Report:
“There’s obviously local outrage,” says Kogon, though he doesn’t agree with the blockade tactic. “I’m extremely worried and disappointed by what they’re actually doing, because blocking the highway is illegal.”
“What I would like to see is that the protesters unblock the highway and stand at the highway with their signs protesting the decisions being made,” says Kogon. “They have every right to free speech, and they have every right to peacefully protest, but they’re breaking the law by blocking the highway.”
Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton told CHMA that the RCMP were turning away commuters into Nova Scotia from New Brunswick, including some hospital workers. CHMA has reached out to the RCMP for information on their operation at the border.
Mitton, who is currently on maternity leave and expecting a baby any day now, was caught in the border blockade traffic trying to get to a medical appointment in Amherst. The backlog of traffic stretched between Amherst and Sackville until the RCMP started asking vehicles to turn around before Aulac. Trucks waiting for the all clear were parked near exits in Sackville.
The last time traffic was backed up between Amherst and Sackville was the opening of the Atlantic Bubble in July 2020. “I got caught in that one,” says Kogon, “but that was a happy backlog. Because they had to do the checking and people understood it. This is a whole different mindset and a whole different atmosphere.”
Various videos online show blockaders arguing with truck drivers. The comments from the protesters also betray some controversial beliefs associated with the anti-vaxx movement. But that was not the case on Tuesday evening on the New Brunswick side of the border, as locals gathered to express their dismay and disappointment that their chance to see loved ones across the border would be delayed again.
CHMA spoke to some of those protesters on Tuesday evening:
David Kogon says this is not the first time that unilateral action by premiers has caused problems and disappointment at the border.
“When Premier Rankin came to become premier after Premier McNeil stepped down, he did a unilateral opening of that border,” says Kogon. But, “a unilateral opening didn’t impact in any positive way. We didn’t see travel between the two provinces for non-essential reasons.”
That was because New Brunswick declined to follow Nova Scotia’s lead, and kept strict isolation requirements in play for those entering New Brunswick from Nova Scotia.
“That was the first time there was a unilateral, not a collaborative, collective decision agreed to by the two premiers,” says Kogon. “And this is the second one, when Premier Higgs announced they were going to open to Cumberland County, as well as the rest of Canada.”
“My disappointment is that the two premiers are working in isolation,” says Kogon. “They’re not working collaboratively and collectively, and maybe they can’t. Maybe they tried to talk and agree, but they didn’t.”
Kogon says Tuesday’s announcement from the Nova Scotia government took him by surprise. “I understand the thought processes,” he says, “but it took us a little bit by surprise, because the announcement by New Brunswick came quite a bit earlier. And we thought well, okay, they’re sticking with the Atlantic bubble.”
The New Brunswick ‘path to green’ plan was released on May 27, 2021, and outlined a phase 2 with a target date of July 2, and a target vaccination goal of just 20% of those 65 and older. When that target was met early, Premier Higgs announced an early adoption of phase 2, on June 15, one week before Rankin’s announcement on Tuesday.
“When you really get people upset and angry is when they have expectations based on what they’re being told, and then those expectations don’t come into reality,” says Kogon. “It’s creating a lot of hurt feelings.”
“I’m not blaming Premier Higgs. I’m not blaming Premier Rankin. I’m disappointed that the two haven’t been able to work together and come up with a common plan that both agree upon,” he says.
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