WELCOME TO PORT AUX BASQUES

Port aux Basques

Gateway from the mainland. For some, Newfoundland begins with Port aux Basques. Near Port aux Basques is the Table Mountain, which offers a magnificent view - right over to Nova Scotia on a clear day. And the wind. The wind that blows between Port aux Basques and Stephenville is so strong that it was known to blow train off the tracks.

History

Port aux Basques has a long history in one of Canada's oldest provinces. It gets its name Basque from the Basque whalers of the western Pyrenees region in Spain and France who crossed the Atlantic and skirted the southwestern tip of Newfoundland en route to Labrador in the 1500s. 

The little settlements in the area were mainly fishing communities, believed first settled by the French in the late 16th century and later by Channel Islanders and the English. In the 1890s, Port aux Basques became a railway centre and this led the community to expand as a trade centre which grew in importance when Port aux Basques was selected as the terminus of the Newfoundland Railway in the 1890s. Later, in 1893, the railway was linked by the gulf steamer service to the Canadian railways on the mainland. The next big change in Port aux Basques' growth came in 1949, with the entry of Newfoundland into Canadian confederation. Overnight. the Newfoundland railway system, including boats and ferries, was operating a transportation service between Port aux Basques and North Sydney, Cape Breton, becoming part of the Canadian National system. By 1965, over 2,000,000 tons of freight was entering the town annually.

Today the formal town of Channel-Port aux Basques, incorporated in 1945, serves as the main western port of entry for the province and comprises the former settlements of Channel, Port aux Basques, Grand Bay east, Grand Bay west and Mouse Island. And once again it is making history as a key stepping point on the Trans Canada Trail to Newfoundland. 

Traveling distance between Stephenville and Corner Brook is approximately 2 ¼ hours. Port aux Basques is accessible from the Trans Canada Highway and is a major hub of transportation with the ferry service to Nova Scotia.

Climate

The area's climate is mild in the winter and warm in summer. The terrain is mainly rocky with few trees. Bakeapples, blueberries, marshberries and partridgeberries are plentiful on the areas many marshes. Sportsmen enjoy our great outdoors where they can fish for trout and salmon or hunt moose, caribou, and rabbit in season. The area also has beautiful sandy beaches and wonderful scenery.

From http://www.sje.k12.nf.ca/html_files/portaub.html

Medical

The hospital located in Port aux Basques is called the Dr. Charles L. Legrow Health Centre.  The hospital is equipped with a staff of 130 people caring for 44 beds.  The hospital services include acute and long-term care.  The Dr. Charles L. Legrow Health Centre serves a population base of approximately 13,000 people.  

The Dr. Charles L. Legrow Health Centre is under the jurisdiction of the Western Health Care Corporation, P.O. Box 2005, Western Memorial Regional Hospital, Corner Brook, NL A2H 6J7, phone: (709) 637-5000.

Recreation/Attractions

Business/Industry

Port aux Basques is the business hub of southwestern Newfoundland, providing shopping and business services to the area, through a mixture of national and retail stores and services, which operate from modern malls and downtown locations.

Fishing and Fish Processing was once the areas largest natural resource but due to declining cod stocks, our fisherman have given up fishing in an effort to rebuild the fish stocks for the future.

Other major employers in this area are the Marine Atlantic Ferry and Transportation service, the Oak Brook Gold Mine, and Tourism.

Designated a federal harbour by Transport Canada, the port of Port aux Basques can handle ships in excess of 200 metres in length and can accommodate eight to ten ocean-going vessels at a time. Port aux Basques has been chosen as the transshipment point for passengers and equipment to the Hope Brook gold mine at Couteau Bay.

The port is the major entry point for goods and services entering the island of Newfoundland, as over sixty-five percent of all provincial freight is shipped through the Port aux Basques facility.

Terratransport, with a dockside facility, can handle 200 containers per day at the terminal and transfer shed. Specific spur lines have been established for the storage of containers containing dangerous commodities.

The rail and truck service is a major distribution and transshipment service to the rest of the province.

As with freight and cargo, the port is a major entry and departure point for tourists entering and leaving the province. Several ferries, in the Marine Atlantic fleet, make the trip from Port aux Basques to mainland Nova Scotia, the newest of which is the M. V. Caribou. This modern ship has the capacity to handle twelve hundred passengers and three hundred and fifty vehicles per trip.

Port aux Basques is a busy community and more companies are finding out that it's a good place to do business. So much so, that several businesses have already moved into a new 21 acre industrial park.

The completion of a 23 000 square foot industrial mall offers subsidized rental, on an annually declining scale, to entrepreneurs who wish to operate manufacturing, processing, prefabrication and machine shop businesses.

It is expected that with lower rentals, business advisory support, and common user services, the business will develop to the stage where it can leave the industrial mall and move into a building of its own, This process ensures that the full potential of a new enterprise is recognized in a positive way at the earliest step, and since its viability is better known, the prospects for sound investments in the future are substantial.

A lot of things are happening in Port aux Basques. Established industries are growing as a result of a healthy economy, and new businesses and industries are taking advantage of the friendly business climate to set up business.

Port aux Basques is a town of opportunity and Gateway to a province of opportunity.

From http://www.sje.k12.nf.ca/html_files/port.html

Education

Accommodation

St. Christopher's Hotel

146 Caribou Road 

Port aux Basques, NL  A0M 1C0
Tel: 709 695-7034 Toll Free: 1-800-563-4779
Fax: 709 695-9841 

Total Rooms: 57

Caribou Bed and Breakfast
30 Grand Bay Road, Box 53
Port Aux Basques
Newfoundland A0N 1K0
Tel: 709 695-3408
E-mail: douglasg@thezone.net

Four Seasons Bed & Breakfast
82 High Street, Box 627
Port aux Basques
Newfoundland A0M 1C0
Tel: 709 695-3826 or 877 695-3826
Fax: 709 695-7002
E-mail: fourseasons@nf.sympatico.ca  

Heritage Home 

11 Caribou Road

Port aux Basques, NL  A0M 1C0

Canada Tel: +1 709 695-3240