Halifax Chamber CEO Focusing On The Positive Ahead of June 30th Reopening

HALIFAX – The Halifax Chamber of Commerce President and CEO is trying to focus on the positives after a frustrating and confusing two days for the business community.

Everyone was looking forward to greeting New Brunswick travelers starting June 23, but then, a day before the bubble was set to reopen, Premier Iain Rankin announced that there would be strict border restrictions with New Brunswick, due to that province choosing to open early to the rest of Canada.

This announcement caught the business community off guard.

“Completely caught off guard on the 22nd, with 17 hours to go, to learn that New Brunswick was effectively blocked from coming to Nova Scotia, due to isolation requirements,” said Chamber president Patrick Sullivan. “I think we were completely surprised.”

“I think many in the business community was counting on being open, because they, frankly, need the revenue. It’s been a long time; people have been locked down, businesses have been closed…and they thought they were going to open on Wednesday. And surprise is not anybody’s friend.”

But Sullivan was pleased when, on June 24, Rankin said that, starting June 30 New Brunswickers could travel to Nova Scotia without restrictions.

“We need to focus now on the announcement that took place (on Thursday) and that announcement said that New Brunswickers will not have to self-isolate come June 30, that they will be allowed free travel through Nova Scotia,” said Sullivan.

“That is a win.”

Sullivan was also pleased to hear that travelers from outside the Atlantic Bubble, who have received two doses of vaccines at least 14 days after arriving, can come freely starting June 30. The Chamber CEO says the summer economy needs more than just Atlantic Canadian tourists to thrive.

“I think what we got today was clarity that we will be open to New Brunswick with no restrictions (on June 30). That’s very good, that gets us back to our Atlantic Bubble. That’s not enough; we still more people.”

“In July of 2019, 239,000 people came to Nova Scotia from outside of Atlantic Canada. We need to get back to those kinds of numbers, and the only way to do that is to let people in and not have them self-isolate because, in this case, they had two vaccines.”

But some business leaders have been more critical of the reopening plan. In response to Rankin’s sudden border announcement on June 22, the six Business Improvement Districts in the HRM wrote a scathing press release criticizing the decision. In the release, the BIDs say border restrictions are “excessive” especially for people who have received just one dose of vaccine.

Starting June 30, Nova Scotia will require people with single doses to self-isolate for at least seven days and cannot leave isolation until they get two negative test results.

“These restrictions put us wildly out of step with nearly every other province which, under comparable circumstances, have managed to make proper plans to welcome Canadians this summer,” wrote the BIDs.

“Specifically, the requirement to both isolate and be tested for single-dose, vaccinated Canadians on an indefinite basis does not align with provincial advice seen elsewhere in the country. No evidence or coherent explanation has been made to explain why the same border standards cannot be applied here.”

There is still lingering frustration over the suddenness of the June 22nd announcement, especially in the tourism and hospitality sector in Halifax. Sullivan notes that at peak summer season (under normal circumstances) $30-million is spent in the HRM, so every week lost means millions in potentially lost revenue.

Perhaps most frustratingly, many businesses lost customers who pre-booked their stays from New Brunswick, only to have them cancel as soon as Rankin made the border restriction announcement.

“People need to make these decisions days in advance on staffing for house-cleaning for hotels and such. They need to make decisions days in advance, not hours in advance,” said Sullivan.

“We need to have clarity. We are not making decisions anymore on a day-to-day basis, we are impacting people who are hoping to come to Nova Scotia…those people are planning their travels week-to-week or month-to-month.”