Covid-19 Separates Two Towns: Maine Is Homesick for Canada

Residents living near the river dividing Madawaska, Maine, from Canada say the international border has long been more concept than barrier. People crossed the 100-year-old bridge to Edmundston, New Brunswick, easily each day to shop, visit family and head to work.

But a year after Covid-19 caused tight travel restrictions, the border remains a major impediment to these remote, interwoven communities and many others like them. Canadians are no longer streaming into Maine for cheaper American goods like gasoline and milk. And families that straddle the border have been cut off.

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Madawaska, population about 3,700, sits atop Maine along the Saint John River. The nearest of Maine’s larger cities, Bangor, is 200 miles south. Under normal times, residents can walk into Edmundston, home to about 16,000. These communities are tied so closely they share a paper plant, with a mill on the Canadian side that pipes pulp to Madawaska to make products like burger wrappers and pharmaceutical inserts. They also share an Acadian heritage, typically celebrated with summer festivals. Cross-border marriages are common.

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About 3.3 million people poured through borders into Maine by car, bus, train or on foot 2019, federal data show. But the number plunged 79% to about 700,000 last year, and Canadian border data also show significant drops in incoming travel. Maine’s Office of Tourism estimates Canadian visitation tumbled by about 80% on the year, costing the state about $1 billion. There is a small border station on the Madawaska side of the bridge where visitors stop to check in. That hasn’t changed, but restrictions have. As soon as the restrictions were put in place, Tim Lausier knew his gas station and convenience store in Madawaska would take a hit. He and his sister Becky Pelletier, who jointly own Bob’s Service Center, had to let their eight part-time and two full-time employees go, he said.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-separates-two-towns-maine-is-homesick-for-canada-11615714201(subscription)