Trans Canada Trail connected throughout New Brunswick

New Brunswick is the most recent province to have its Trans Canada Trail completely connected.

"We've been working with local partners here," said co-chair of the Trans Canada Trail Foundation,Valerie Pringle.

"We don't own the trail. It's all locally. It's all locally operated."

Information Morning - Fredericton13:26Valerie Pringle - TransCanada Trail

The New Brunswick section of the TransCanada trail has been finished. Terry Seguin talks to the co-chair of the TransCanada Trail Foundation.Pringle has been part of the board for the Trans Canada Trail since 2000. Before that, during her time as a journalist, the trail was already a passion of hers.

"I was always wanting to do a story about it," said Pringle.

"For 16 years I've worked very hard on this. As you can hear, I love everything about it."

An iconic project

Pringle said the Trans Canada Trail, which is now being branded asthe Great Trail, is important to Canadians.

"It's so small and personal and important, and yet it's so huge and big and Canadian," said Pringle.

Pringle said about 80 per cent of Canadians live within half an hour of the trail. She has been raisingmoney to try and put thetrail togetherand has found people are very willing to give.

"I do think that because this is sort of a national project, and it's an iconic project, and it's a legacy project, those things really go to the heart," said Pringle.

Time to celebrate

There will be an event on Saturday to celebrate the connection at Government House from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Pringle said everyone is invited. There will be a walk along a section ofthe Trans Canada Trailand some live music.

But there is still work to do. Not all the provinces are completely connected like New Brunswick. Also, Pringle would like to see a certain trail standard for the Great Trail.

"This is a lifelong job. My sweet little two-year-old granddaughter will be working on this trail. We're not saying complete, we're saying we're going to connect. That's our big push for 2017."