Many New Brunswick businesses are preparing for at least 16 consecutive days of no customers under new COVID-19 restrictions.
Premier Blaine Higgs announced Thursday that the province will move to Level 3 of the government’s winter plan, which includes mandated closures for many service-based businesses like bars, gym facilities and hair salons.
The changes go into effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday and are scheduled to last until Jan. 30.
Kevin Ferguson, owner of O’Leary’s Pub in uptown Saint John, said he opted to close his doors Thursday at 5 p.m. instead, believing he would lose less money by shutting down a day and a half early.
He said he doesn’t like them, but has accepted the need for tightened restrictions.
“We have to do this in the short term and I understand that,” Ferguson said. “But the short term is now two years. And therefore new habits get created, and therefore what is going to be the lasting impact?”
Ferguson said some people during the pandemic are getting used to not socializing at establishments like his, eating into his bottom line, and he fears a trend.
“Are we going to be afraid of everything every time?” he asked. “A few years ago, if we had a snowstorm, we would still have people out. People were not afraid of it. Now people are afraid of it.”
Blaine Harris, the owner and operator of Lancaster Barber Shop, is less accepting of the forced shutdown.
Harris, who contracted COVID-19 during the holiday season, said the services sector is being targeted unfairly.
“I think it’s crazy,” Harris said of the restrictions. “We’re an industry … we’ve been doing everything we were supposed to do under Level 2 (of the Winter Plan). There’s nobody coming in here that’s not vaccinated, if they’re sick, they’re not coming into these industries, and then all of a sudden what’s closed is not retail. It’s a service industry. It’s the barbers, the hairdressers, the spas — places that have had no COVID outbreaks.”
Harris said he does not qualify for government programs like the New Brunswick Small Business Recovery Grant program, which provides up to $10,000 for eligible businesses. He said he’ll have to absorb the losses on his own.
He said he does not understand why some interactive services like dentistry and physiotherapy clinics remain open while he has to close.
- How caregiving impacts a generation of Canadians: ‘Unpaid work does not end’
- Thousands of Canada’s rail workers have a strike mandate. What happens now?
- Bird flu: Experts urge more surveillance in Canada — before it’s too late
- Can the Bank of Canada cut rates before the U.S.? What Macklem, economists say
“Those people are with a client for an hour, two hours at a time,” he said. “We’re with somebody for 10 minutes.”
Louis-Philippe Gauthier, Atlantic spokesman for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said optimism among its membership across the country is quite low for the first three months of the year, but their outlook improves over time.
Still, he said COVID-19’s damage to businesses has been “cumulative,” and it’s getting worse.
“We’re starting a new year with a lot of accumulated debt, prices on the rise in the supply chain, prices on the rise from an insurance perspective, cost pressures on the labour pool and our payrolls,” Gauthier said. “And that’s not going to change, unfortunately.”
Ferguson said he does qualify for some government programs. He said he’s hopeful of a return of the cruise industry for the first time in three years once the province crosses this latest hurdle in the pandemic.
“I believe in the business,” he said. “I believe in what’s going to happen in the future. It will come around.”
Comments