MP John Williamson Plans to Keep Pressure on Scotiabank to Keep Grand Manan Branch Open

In January of 2022, Scotiabank informed its Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick customers that it plans to close its Grand Manan branch on August 24, 2022. The letter informed island residents that the Grand Manan branch would simply be consolidated with the St. George, New Brunswick branch. While on paper, the distance between the island and St. George is less than 67 kilometres, the commute is far more complicated. 

Residents will have to take a 90-minute ferry ride from Grand Manan to Blacks Harbour. Then it is another 20-minute drive to St. George. Add to this the fact that there is a four-hour wait between ferry crossings most of the year outside of summer tourism season. That means a roundtrip to do simple in-person banking will require approximately nine hours--a new obstacle that islanders believe will have a drastic effect on local businesses and their way of life. 

"The bank closure is terrible news, and it is going to have a crippling effect on the island's economy," says MP John Williamson of New Brunswick Southwest. "Anyone who has spent any time on the island knows it is largely a cash economy where access to a bank is crucial. Relocating customers to St. George is not realistic. I am terribly disappointed in Scotiabank. I've written to the Finance Minister as well as the committee that oversees banking regulations in the country, and I've raised my concerns in Parliament. We have to keep the pressure on." 

Williamson says Canadian banks have the benefit of being protected from competition and, in having this, have an obligation to serve communities, especially those that are remote. 

"This is clearly a decision that was made in a far away place in a head office in Toronto, and it doesn't stand given that the banks in this country are meant to serve communities. Anyone who looks at a map can see what difficulties this will impose on islanders."  

Williamson is currently writing to Scotiabank's President and CEO asking for an intervention in this decision that he believes was clearly made in a head office with little thought to its impact.