[Reporter] For the kids the game goes like this:
Try to keep the bubble from bursting as long as you can.
Bubbles are supposed to be fun.
But these days any talk of bursting the Atlantic bubble
is almost considered to be sacrilegious.
I don’t want to burst the bubble.
Not yet, no.
I don’t think they should open the bubble.
I feel very safe in the Atlantic bubble.
[Reporter] Here’s how it works:
With few exceptions
if you travel into the bubble from outside Atlantic Canada
you must self-isolate for 14 days.
How do you feel about the Atlantic bubble?
We have our own little bubble.
We’re in the best bubble you can get.
[Reporter] And let’s face it
there’s a global pandemic on
but things are sailing along pretty well here inside this force field.
People wear masks some places, like on the ferry
but life is otherwise pretty normal here.
Only a few active cases.
No community spread
and plenty of freedom.
And a recent poll suggests the vast majority of Atlantic Canadians
have no interest in bursting the bubble.
Yes, people inside the Atlantic bubble
feel like they’ve been somehow fortified.
Do you like the idea of the Atlantic bubble?
Yeah, it's totally good
because I think Nova Scotia has the better situation than Ontario.
Welcome to P.E.I.
Do you have your documents?
[Reporter] Before July, for the most part, Atlantic Canada's borders were closed.
Then the provinces decided to open up to each other
but only each other.
Just some paperwork and an ID check.
The carpet has been rolled out you’re very, very welcome
[Reporter] And then the royal treatment.
So, are you feeling tempted to enter the bubble?
Well, consider Bryn de Chastelain.
University student from Ontario.
One of thousands who are stuck in a mandatory, 14-day quarantine in Halifax.
How you doing up there?
Does that work OK?
[Reporter] Friends deliver groceries to his door.
[Bryn] It’s about as much as I’m getting outside these days.
[Reporter] But no one can take away the boredom growing by the day.
And this is only Day 12.
Talk about a university initiation.
I would love to be able to feel like I could go back
to visit family in Ontario whenever I want to
but at the same time now I think this is one of the safest areas
in North America right now.
But I am hopeful at some point that I'll be able to get back
and see some family.
[Reporter] But when?
Premiers and public health officials in Atlantic Canada
have been sounding downright protective about opening borders.
I believe it would be premature today
to be considering a further loosening of our border restrictions.
We don't have any timelines to make changes.
There is considerable fear I would say.
Ongoing requirements for a quarantine.
[Reporter] So, will the bubble ever burst?
Turns out, the incoming university students
could actually be the canary in the coal mine
so to speak...
...according to Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil.
We think that the fact that
we’re welcoming thousands of young people from across the country
will allow us to get a sense of the mobility of that virus.
We’re very encouraged by the fact that the system is working.
[Reporter] But for some in business the bubble can’t open fast enough.
Don Mills, business owner and former pollster
says it’s time to prick it.
You know, we think we're safe from the world
in Atlantic Canada.
We are safe from the world in one respect.
But in another respect our economy is being really hard hit.
[Reporter] The economy everywhere in this country
has been hard hit.
And the bubble has some people questioning
whether the fundamentals of nationhood
means being in this together.
The protectionist bubbling is unprecedented.
Is it unconstitutional?
It’s something Ottawa legal expert
a.k.a. bubble outsider Errol Mendes has been researching.
Have we ever had anything like this in Canada before?
No, and hopefully we won't for another 100 years.
But this is a very unusual situation.
[Reporter] He’s parsed the nitty gritty
and thinks a legal challenge would be iffy.
As long as governments can provide
cogent, scientific and public health reasons
for limiting those rights
they are constitutional.
I know that others disagree but this is my firm conviction.
[Reporter] Which is exactly what they want to hear
back in the bubble room.
They’re trying to be mean.
I don’t believe anybody is.
They’re just trying to keep it contained.
[Reporter] Tom Murphy, CBC News, Halifax.