The four provinces east of Quebec, namely New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, form what is commonly known as Atlantic Canada.

They are Canada’s smallest provinces by population, area and GDP and are home to a population that is considerably older than the median age. While Canada’s median age is 40.9 years, it is over 47 in Newfoundland and Labrador, the oldest provincial median age across the country. Of the 2.4 million residents of Atlantic Canada, roughly one person in six is 65 years or older.

In March 2020, when it became clear that Covid-19 was a pandemic, each province in Atlantic Canada took drastic measures to protect its citizens and health systems, including in the case of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador restricting entry from Quebec into their territory. The border between Maine and New Brunswick was similarly closed during the US-Canada border shutdown by the US and Canadian governments.

On June 24, 2020, the four provinces announced that they had agreed to create a bubble within which Atlantic Canada residents could travel freely (the “Bubble”). The agreement took effect on July 3, 2020 and continues to this day, though some conditions for travel into the Bubble have been slightly relaxed. It is worth noting that life within the Bubble has few pandemic restrictions other than those which deal with social distancing, hand-washing and face coverings.

The Bubble has been effective. Of the more than 267,000 Covid-19 cases recorded in Canada as of November 9, 2020, only 1,847 were in the Bubble. By comparison, the province most affected by the pandemic in Canada and the only province which borders the Bubble, Quebec, has recorded 115,989 cases, a number which continues to rise dramatically.

When comparing death rates between the Bubble and Quebec, the contrast could not be starker. Bubble residents are 25 times less likely to die from Covid-19 than Quebec residents.

The Bubble has placed Atlantic Canada among the best in class in North America when it comes to the pandemic. It has also shown what the region can accomplish when it cooperates closely. The four provinces are small, but share many similarities and would benefit from greater cooperation from procurement to infrastructure. The Atlantic Loop energy project could be a perfect project to build upon the apparent success of the Bubble.