The ferry from Campobello to Deer Island will run all winter and next spring, according to Saint Croix MLA Kathy Bockus. She posted on Facebook that provincial Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Jill Green told her that the four day a week ferry service would run until May 31, the day before the regular season starts on June 1.
      The provincial government had announced that it would cut the subsidy for the privately run service at the end of December because Canada and the United States had eased restrictions at the border, making it easier for Campobello Island residents to cross the bridge to access essential services in Lubec, Maine, or drive across Washington County to reemerge in Canada at St. Stephen. Premier Blaine Higgs said more recently that he might consider extending the subsidy in light of increasing numbers of people catching COVID 19, especially the omicron variant, in both countries.
      "Given the ever changing situation with COVID -- we now have the highly contagious omicron variant in N.B. -- and the increasing number of cases in Maine, Minister Green understood islanders' concerns and thought the only fair thing to do was to give islanders some peace of mind with a steady service, weather dependent of course," Bockus wrote. New Brunswick Southwest MP John Williamson welcomes this announcement from Fredericton. "One way or another we're going to make the ferry year round, one season at a time," he quipped in an interview.

Campobello exemption to continue
      He had further good news, namely, that the federal government will allow Campobello Island residents to continue to cross into the United States for essential services and return home without COVID 19 PCR tests.
      "I have been informed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) that the federal government's Order in Council exemption for Campobello residents remains in place, which allows for essential travel to Lubec, Maine, or through Washington County to access mainland New Brunswick in St. Stephen. This means full time island residents who must cross the Canada United States border for essential reasons can return home without a COVID 19 PCR test. Other Canadians from coast to coast will require a negative PCR test at our land crossing borders starting on Tuesday, December 21, 2021," he posted on Facebook.
      "You go to the nearest point, you fill up, you come home. It's not a pass to be shopping down in Bangor or Freeport," he stressed in the interview.
      Under the exemption, Campobello residents do not need to show proof of vaccination to reenter Canada, but Williamson worries about changes that could be coming for entering the United States. "President Joe Biden has said the U.S. government will require that all non citizens be vaccinated to enter U.S. territory in mid January. Again, I am working with our federal government seeking an exemption for Campobello residents from the White House. This decision will be made in Washington, D.C., and not Ottawa," his Facebook post states.