Bay of Fundy: a world-class attraction

Casey views this as our ‘Grand Canyon’ and collaborators want to push that

Amherst, N.s.

Bill Casey is part of a growing group of politicians and business owners who want to double tourism around the Bay of Fundy within five years.

The informal group of federal MPs is working with their provincial counterparts as well as business groups in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to attract more visitors to the Fundy region of both provinces.

“We want the Bay of Fundy to be a Grand Canyon attraction. The Grand Canyon is not just one spot, it’s a whole area,” Casey said. “We have the world’s highest tides, we have sea cliffs and some of the world’s oldest and most unique fossils, we have the oldest community in Canada and we have whale watching and incredible marine life. There are so many things that are unique that people will come.”

Casey, who is the Nova Scotia chairman of the Bay of Fundy caucus, said inspiration for the project came from the campaign several years ago to have the bay named one of the world’s New 7 Wonders. While the bay fell short in that competition, Casey Casey said it should be a major tourism draw for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

“We’re using a lot of the work they did for that competition because they did a significant amount of work. We’re going to use that as a foundation,” Casey said.

Casey said Bay of Fundy caucus, made up of seven Liberal MPs whose ridings touch the bay, is creating partnerships with the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick governments, ACOA, CBDC, businesses and chambers of commerce.

He said the efforts ties in well with the Ivany Report, which said several years ago that tourism could be the foundation of rural economic development in Nova Scotia.

“They have one goal in there to double tourism in Nova Scotia. We put a timeline on it, we want to do it in five years,” Casey said.

One way to enhance the bay as a tourist destination is to hook the region on to the East Coast Greenway Trail that begins in Key West, Florida and runs through 16 states to Calais, Maine.

“New Brunswick wants to hook onto that and I think Nova Scotia should hook onto it as well. We could have trails all around the Bay of Fundy tying into this trail,” Casey said. “The things we offer in this area are unprecedented. The experiences are incredible whether you’re in Grand Manan or Yarmouth.”

He sees the tourism project benefiting both Cumberland and Colchester counties starting with the Beaubassin national historic site at the border with New Brunswick, the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Cape Chignecto, white water river rafting at Shubenacadie and the potential Cliffs of Fundy Geopark that will run along the bay in both counties.