Restaurant owners and industry advocates are hoping next week’s federal throne speech includes a commitment to more help for the pandemic-battered industry.
Among other things, they want Ottawa to extend the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), which is set to wind down in a matter of weeks.
Mike Babineau, owner of Rustico in Fredericton, says he lost “thousands of dollars” and about a quarter of his 40-person staff due to COVID-19.
His business was completely closed in March for three weeks before reopening as a take-out-only service.
Babineau was able to reopen to customers when provincial restrictions were relaxed during the summer, and says an expanded patio allowed him to bring in more customers.
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He says the CEWS program helped him get through.
“It was definitely given to help us keep staffing levels as close to full as we were able to,” Babineau said.
“It was needed. I don’t think we would be in any operation, or many small businesses would be where we are today, if it wasn’t for that.”
CEWS provides employees of certain businesses a percentage of their regular salaries depending on the amount of revenue lost due to the pandemic.
Restaurants Canada, a non-profit food service industry advocacy group, sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office this week, calling for the program to be extended, along with the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program and the Canada Emergency Business Account.
The group said the food service sector was a $93 billion business before the pandemic began, but stands to lose up to half of that amount this year.
It also said about ten percent of food service businesses have closed permanently due to COVID-19.
Restaurants Canada Federal and Quebec Vice President David Lefebvre said that number will be higher if CEWS does not continue.
“You know, there’s a lot of restaurants that would say, ‘OK, I’ll do Christmas season and then it’s over,'” Lefebvre began. “So this is why we understand that this program is very important for the food service sector, and it’s a reason we feel it’s a reasonable ask to have it extended into 2021.”
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Babineau said CEWS should continue until government-imposed restrictions like social distancing are no longer in place, as they restrict patron numbers for thousands of businesses across Canada.
“If they’re controlling the amount of people that’s able to come into our business, the government therefore should be helping us financially to recover and continue to recover,” Babineau said.
“Just because it’s helped us for a few months doesn’t mean we’re not going to need it during the hardest months of running a business,” he said.
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