Gov. Mills Touts Cross-Border Ties in Bar Harbor Visit

"We Are Family," Mills Says at Stop at Bar Harbor's Cafe This Way

Susanne Hathaway and Gov. Janet Mills

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Psychiatry.

BAR HARBOR—Like many visitors to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Maine Governor Janet Mills headed back to the United States on the high-speed CAT Ferry and did a quick tour of Bar Harbor.

The governor had visited with Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and others during her trip, which was meant to remind and promote Maine to the state’s neighbors.

“We are family and we are deeply intertwined financially, economically, familially. We share the same cuisine, the same language, and a lot of the same heritage and that should never, never be disrupted,” Gov. Mills said Thursday afternoon.

In both a statement and during her Bar Harbor visit, Mills stressed Maine’s relationship to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

“Whether Maritimers come to Maine for work or for pleasure, they will be welcomed warmly by the people of our state — as they always have been,” Gov. Mills said. “We value their friendship, their business, and the deep ties that connect our communities across the border.”

At Cafe This Way, a restaurant in Bar Harbor, Mills spoke to the press and the owners and staff prior to placing a sign welcoming Canadians.

In French and English the sign says, “Welcome, Canadians! Maine welcomes our Canadian friends!”

The Maine Department of Transportation installed 11 signs similarly welcoming Canadian tourists this past May. Those signs are dispersed throughout the state, including the CAT ferry terminal in Bar Harbor.

During her recent travels, Governor Mills spoke of the tourism season for Canadians as well. She also spoke to Bay Ferries President Mark Wilson.

“Today’s the last day of school in Canada,” Gov. Mills said and that the CAT expects the ridership to increase.

In 2024, the ferry had moved just under 50,000 passengers and 20,000 vehicles, an increase of approximately 12,000 more passengers than in 2023.

While in Canada, Gov. Mills spoke to business and economic leaders as well as small business owners. At least one person, she said, worried about coming to Maine because of media images showing a car burning in California.

“That’s pretty exaggerated—a pretty exaggerated phenomena,” Gov. Mills said and it shouldn’t deter people from coming to Maine.

Canadian tourist visits to Maine dropped roughly 26% from February through April, Gov. Mills said, but Memorial Day was successful.

“My job is to reassure the people of the Canadian provinces.… We want them here. We want Maine people to feel comfortable going to Canada as well. There’s always been a healthy back and forth and that should continue. This relationship goes back centuries … and it shouldn’t be detoured or damaged by the activities of the last few months and the language we’ve heard from Washington,” Gov. Mills said.

Some of those next steps include continuing conversations and invitations after what she classified as a great trip.

Tweaking the line from the movie Casablanca, she said of the relationships being built by the political leaders of Maine and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, “This could be the start of a brand new friendship.”

Having an open door about concerns and an open mind is an important part of relationship building, she said.

According to a state press release, “Canadian visitors are an important part of Maine's tourism economy. In 2024, nearly 800,000 Canadian visitors spent approximately $497.7 million in Maine, according to the Maine Office of Tourism. Overall, the state welcomed 14.8 million visitors, who spent more than $9.2 billion, supporting 115,900 jobs and generating $5.4 billion in wages.”

Gov. Mills has spoken previously about worries that tariffs on Canadian goods spoken about by President Donald Trump would negatively affect Maine.

Maine exports approximately $1.4 billion in goods to Canada.

In Bar Harbor, Gov. Mills also said her concerns about tourism were shared by other governors of nearby states as well as senators.

Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce Director Everal Eaton said that in the Maine Office of Tourism’s 2024 report, the MDI region had a 3.3% increase in visitor spending, reaching $1,813,960,200.

“We saw 1,892,300 visitors to the region, which was a 7.1% decrease,” he said and “13,800 jobs in our region were supported by tourism.”

This equated to $615,964,100 in wages were paid to employees, marking a 6% increase.

“Canadian travelers made up 4% of our visitors as are largest segment of international travelers,” he said.

---

Photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story

---

Follow us on Facebook. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here.

If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here (about how you can give) or here (a direct link), which is the same as the button below.

If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here.