Border towns keeping an eye on negotiations about border restrictions

Border agreement expires in a week High-level negotiations going on between Ottawa and Washington. Mike Cameron reports.

ST. STEPHEN, N.B. — The normally busy border crossing in St. Stephen, N.B. is a bit of a lonely outpost now as traffic is but a fraction of what was seen before the travel restrictions.

Gas is selling for 62 cents a litre on the American side, but no one is buying. Canadian motorists are filling up at home.

"A lot of them are -- I know they are," said St. Stephen resident Bill Babcock. "I put gas in my vehicle for the first time this month over here, first time in probably years."

Shopkeepers on the Canadian side are seeing more customers too.

"We're seeing a lot of new people," said shopkeeper Kevin Stuart.

Though, like everywhere else, retailers in the area are adjusting to the pandemic.

"We put our full product list online every week cause it changes every week," Stuart said. "We now do home delivery. We do curbside pick-up."

Next week, restrictions at the border will expire, unless they are extended, which is the subject of negotiations between officials in Ottawa and Washington.

"I have spoken with President Trump a number of times over the past weeks, and our conversations have always been very positive," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

There is concern about allowing travellers from states where COVID-19 is not under control.

"You got a label it that it's really bad right now and we don't want that," said St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern. "It's totally understandable, their fear."

Though MacEachern says accommodations should be made.

"What I am hearing, there is concerned citizens that have family over there -- that's the toughest one."

Elizabeth Stevens grew up along the border. She says "local traffic" should be accommodated.

"A lot of people in Ottawa have no idea how important the communities that sit at borders are, and the culture, and there is a border culture," she said. "I think if you opened this border to St. Stephen, to Charlotte County and Washington counties, it would be completely doable and no damage would be done."

Others remain concerned about opening the doors too wide.

"They're not going to open it right away unless they can do something about it," Babcock said. "I mean, places like New York, there's just far too much of it. I wouldn't want them coming over in that area, for sure."

Stuart has concerns, too.

"I really don't think New Brunswick can stay safe and open borders, unless they have some sort of screening process put in place at the borders," he said.