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Travel in Quebec is doubly restricted these days, what one police officer calls “the bubble within the bubble.”

Not only are Ontario residents barred from crossing one of five bridges to Gatineau — with some exceptions — but there are restrictions within the Outaouais itself. Someone from Low, for instance, needs a good reason to travel to Gatineau, as the trip crosses municipal boundaries. Roadblocks galore are forcefully making the point.

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The gatekeepers are police officers who, in theory, are using their best judgment to determine who passes, who goes home. Therein lies a potential conflict — one man’s “essential” journey is another man’s flimsy excuse for an outing.

Witness the travails of Francis Aubin, 38, a Postmedia pressman, who was left furious after an encounter with police near Low, 60 kilometres north of central Gatineau, and outside one of the “bubbles.”

Aubin has a permanent address in St-Pierre-de-Wakefield, about 30 kms from Low, where he lived with an ailing father and his family. Because he is an essential worker who travels to Ottawa regularly, Aubin was worried he might come home with COVID-19 and potentially infect his father, who is still recovering from cancer.