St. Stephen. NB / Calais, Maine Border Quiet Despite Being Open to Canadian Travellers

US land borders reopened to fully vaccinated Canadians on Monday, November 8, for the first time since March of 2020. 

On Sunday night, snowbirds in trailers from across the Maritimes waited in parking lots around St. Stephen for the border to open at the stroke of midnight. By early Monday morning, traffic going from St. Stephen to Calais, Maine was once again virtually non-existent. Complicated and costly border requirements for returning travellers are still major deterrents for daytrippers.

All returning travellers need to pre-register their travel using the ArriveCan app and must also provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken with the last 72 hours. COVID-19 molecular tests can cost over $150 per person.

Critics argue that requiring a negative PCR test drives up the cost for travellers but doesn't actually provide more protection, since a rapid test upon reentering would better detect more recent COVID-19 exposures on the trip over. Health Canada recently stated that the PCR testing policy was being "actively looked at," so expect more to follow in the weeks ahead.  

Children under 12 who are travelling with fully vaccinated parents won't need to quarantine upon re-entering Canada but they will have to stay home from school or daycare for 14 days.

On Tuesday, NB Liquor employees voted in favour of joining the other 20,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees across New Brunswick who have been on strike for nearly two weeks.

Premier Blaine Higgs says the offer he made last week to CUPE for an average wage increase of 15 per cent over five years as well as retroactive pay for those with expired contracts still stands. One of the major holdups in the labour dispute, however, is the pension plans for two school-based locals.  Higgs says he wants independent actuaries to determine a suitable pension model for the two locals

CUPE NB President Stephen Drost says it was the province that put the pension plans in financial trouble to begin with.

While workers in the healthcare sector have been mandated back to work, schools remain closed for the second week in a row with New Brunswick children continuing their education online.

“The government owes over $100 million to these pension plans," says Drost. "It doesn’t surprise me one bit that the Premier and his party aren’t very popular right now. New Brunswickers aren’t blaming frontline workers for the strike, they know our members were put in this position by the premier. New Brunswickers also know that the premier can end this strike tomorrow with one stroke of a pen by signing our offer.”