Kris Austin is the leader of the People's Alliance of New Brunswick. (Photo: New Brunswick legislature screengrab)
We could see the New Brunswick border open this weekend to two communities in Quebec.
Premier Blaine Higgs wants to allow residents in the areas that border Edmundston and Campbellton, to be able to cross over into New Brunswick without having to self isolate for COVID-19.
“The idea is we would be able to track the actual people, where they live because we do that through postal code. It would require an online registration. There will also be validation when you come across the border, proving that you are a resident of the region that is being considered,” said Higgs.
Higgs says they would be permitted to make day trips into New Brunswick.
“To kind of resume a normal activity, commercial activity, social activity that the border communities were always used to. It isn’t something that opens it up with the rest of Quebec,” Higgs says.
Meantime, the leader of the People’s Alliance of New Brunswick isn’t supportive of the Higgs government’s decision.
Kris Austin says New Brunswick is doing so well, with a low number of COVID-19 cases, he doesn’t want to see that change.
“My issue with extending to a certain region of Quebec is, Quebec as a province hasn’t done as well as other provinces in Atlantic Canada, and when you talk about the regions that are specifically going to included in the bubble, there’s no way to track where those residents have been.”
Austin adds it doesn’t deliver a consistent message, “To me, if you are going to open up to one section outside the Atlantic bubble, why aren’t we opening up to other sections in Canada. I just think it is not a consistent message or a consistent policy and as such, I don’t support it.”
