Port Hawkesbury, Canso demand answers from BMO ahead of July closures

Municipal councils and business leaders in Port Hawkesbury and Canso are requesting meetings with Bank of Montreal officials, following the announcement of bank closures slated for July 25. 

The decision will leave Canso without any financial institution, transferring local accounts to the nearest BMO location in New Glasgow, about 140 kilometres away.

BMO is urging customers who don't wish to make the two-hour drive to consider the company's digital banking options.

"It was a total, total shock — nobody knew this was coming," said Fin Armsworthy, who represents Canso and the surrounding communities within his District 8 seat of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough. 

"This was a pretty big blow to the community. We've been kicked around a lot, but this is a pretty bad blow."

Following an emergency meeting Wednesday to assess the Canso branch closure,  Guysborough district council issued a statement demanding an immediate meeting with BMO regional vice-president Deanne Chaulk to discuss a reversal of the decision.

Hours later, Port Hawkesbury town council discussed the upcoming loss of its own BMO location at a special council meeting. That meeting resulted in a decision to write to BMO officials with the town's concerns.

"We [will] implore them to reconsider their decision," Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton told CBC Thursday. 

"We will outline the current and future developments in the region to show the value of maintaining a branch here in Port Hawkesbury and offering to meet to discuss [the closure] further."

BMO's digital push draws fire

In a statement to CBC, BMO said the closure decisions were made "to adapt to changing consumer preferences for service delivery." It also promised to provide in-person seminars to help customers in the Port Hawkesbury and Canso areas make the switch to digital banking. 

That response drew fire from Armsworthy, who pointed to Canso's considerable senior population and suggested that many residents from different demographics lack basic computer skills to carry out their banking needs online. 

Similar concerns were raised by Tanya Felix, the executive director of the Strait Area Chamber of Commerce, which counts the Port Hawkesbury BMO location among its members.

Felix agreed that seniors and some small business operators could struggle with digital banking, adding that few of these Strait Area residents can travel to New Glasgow to access in-person banking services. 

"If you're running a business and you're relying on in-person services, you don't have a lot of time to run to another location," Felix said Thursday. 

'We won't go down without a fight'

In the face of the July 25 closures and the loss of services and jobs, neither the chamber of commerce or the affected municipal councils are giving up.

While her organization has yet to receive any formal complaints or concerns about the Port Hawkesbury closure, Felix is offering assistance to businesses affected by the news.

She's also hoping her counterparts in the Guysborough Board of Trade, which oversees the Canso area, will follow suit. 

"Any time a small community loses vital institutions that the population relies on every day, it impacts our vitality, and it's harder for people to stay in the community," Felix said, adding that she hopes BMO will reverse its decision for both closures.

Armsworthy, who witnessed major renovations to the Canso BMO location in the run-up to the closure announcement, was even more succinct in his remarks following Wednesday's emergency meeting. 

"We won't go down without a fight," he said.