Moncton, February 11, 2026 – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) continues to urge government to establish a contingency fund in its upcoming budgets to compensate businesses for the impacts of the 16 month closure of the Centennial Bridge in Miramichi.
This is not a new project. CFIB is not aware of any reasonable argument that could justify business owners taking on the financial impacts of poor decisions and planning by successive governments over the last decade.
As communicated to government repeatedly since March 2025, business owners have experienced firsthand the effects of severe congestion on the King George Highway during previous maintenance work or incidents on the bridge.
Their lived experience is reflected in our preliminary research findings, with 68% of business owners saying the closure of the Centennial Bridge will have a negative impact on their business, and almost one in three projecting major negative impacts.
Louis-Philippe Gauthier, CFIB Vice-President, Atlantic
506-961-5706
Louis-Philippe.Gauthier@cfib.ca
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 103,000 members across every industry and region including 3,700 members in New Brunswick. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.
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