Some Winnipeg business owners say major road construction projects are having an impact on their bottom lines and are calling on the city to compensate them for the lost business.
Work began on a stretch of St. Anne’s Road between Fermor Avenue and St. Mary’s Road in May, and Barbara Best, owner of Lizzy B’s, a needle art supply shop, told 680 CJOB that her business has been hurting.
“My parking has been hard to get to because the two side streets are often blocked off as well,” she said.
“I tried to have an outdoor market this summer and had to cancel it, because it relies on walk-up traffic — or spontaneously-stopping traffic — and that’s not possible.”
While Best said she’s grateful for the road improvements, she’s losing money as a result and doesn’t know how much longer her small business can survive without help.
“Other cities have compensation for businesses that are affected by this. A lot of small businesses are a month or two away from disaster,” she said.
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“The (Canadian Federation of Independent Business) has been after councillors and mayors —they’ve written an open letter in June of 2024, asking for compensation. Even a break in property taxes during that time would be something.”
Area Coun. Brian Mayes said the issue has been brought up at city hall many times over the years.
“I had my own business when I was a lawyer in Brandon, a storefront. I would’ve been upset if it was delayed for months with sidewalks being torn out. I have sympathy for that,” Mayes said.
“But we are trying to do these big road projects, we’ve had drainage complaints from the road next and we’re improving that. There’s certainly been talk at city hall for some years about some sort of compensation in these situations, but there’s a cost to that as well.”
Finding a way to compensate business owners while ensuring there’s enough money for needed road repairs would be a balancing act, he said.
“It hasn’t made it into the budget yet — it might this year, I suppose, but that’ll be a political decision.”
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Construction sites are not immune to the city’s theft issues; the Manitoba Homebuilders’ Association says it’s a growing problem. Daisy Woelk reports.
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