**** EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT Office Release
Province Monitoring Issues Related to Highway Blockade
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Officials are closely monitoring issues related to a blockade on Highway 104, near the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border, that is disrupting the movement of important goods and services and could put individuals at risk.
The Emergency Management Office is aware that the situation is having an impact on the transportation sector and supply chains. This includes refrigerated trucks carrying perishable foods that could spoil if they run out of fuel, medication to pharmacies and propane supplies for industrial customers.
Wholesale food deliveries to restaurants are impacted as is feed to livestock, affecting small businesses and farmers across the region.
“The longer this goes on the more risk there is that someone might not be able to get something they need,” said Inclusive Economic Growth Minister Labi Kousoulis. “There are workers who need to cross the border daily for their jobs, business owners depending on shipments for their livelihoods and trucks filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of seafood exports. The situation needs to end as soon as possible.”
Additionally, traffic congestion in Amherst is high due to vehicles parking in the town. This has the potential to create conditions that could slow emergency vehicles responding to calls.
The blockade has disrupted health-care services at the Cumberland Regional Health Centre, including the cancellation of more than 100 appointments for important services such as prenatal, services for children with autism and pacemaker care.
The blockade is also disrupting vital home care for residents in Cumberland County and stopping fragile test samples for children with life-threatening conditions coming from New Brunswick and PEI from arriving at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.
The community vaccine clinic in Cumberland County is open, and no appointments have been cancelled, but the parking lot has been blocked posing a risk to those trying to get their COVID-19 vaccines.
