EDMONTON — Nearly two dozen local independent restaurants are calling for the very thing that would, to anyone else, seem to hurt their business the most: a shutdown of all non-essential businesses.
Kris Harvey helped write the open letter demanding more action from the Alberta government, signed by 19 other owner/operators of Edmonton businesses.
He told CTV News Edmonton the “half-measures” introduced by the province in November – which include further capacity restrictions and a liquor-sales curfew – made it too tough for restaurants to turn a profit.
“Up until Jason Kenney spoke about hospitality, it was six, seven months of no communication, no response in a positive way standing up for our businesses. And now we’re stuck with this awful challenge,” Harvey said.
“We’re having to choose between the safety of our staff, the safety of our customers, and the ability to operate our businesses going forward and it’s just not fair.”
The Edmonton Independent Hospitality Community is asking for a non-essential-businesses lockdown until COVID-19’s spread in the province has been curbed, a commercial eviction ban, and access to federal and provincial financial aid.
The letter calls current public health measures “not enough” to slow the disease and an obstacle to federal support so long as there is not a formal lockdown declaration.
“It’s a no-brainer. You saw the memes and things about COVID after 10 p.m. sneaking out. Like, it doesn’t go away. People still go to house parties, they still go to hotels. And they’ve done this from Day 1,” Harvey commented.
“Prohibition doesn’t work. Abstinence doesn’t work. War on drugs doesn’t work. We need to use our history and data-based information to make positive decisions (about) our economy.”
According to Harvey, each week brings new permanent closures from all corners of the province.
“I’m very proud of a lot of the businesses that didn’t sign onto this open letter because they have to stand with their employees they currently have… they’re keeping them gainfully employed at a loss,” he told CTV News Edmonton.
But of the industry, he said: “We can’t do this anymore. We’re on our last legs.”
In a somewhat irregular fashion, Alberta’s premier as well as the health and economy ministers are slated to join a provincial pandemic update by the province’s chief medical officer of health at 4 p.m. MST. They’re expected to introduce stricter rules for non-essential businesses and social gatherings, extend regional mandatory-mask rules throughout the province, and implement a work-from-home order.
Previously, the government has said it is focused on a pandemic response which would balance health and economic needs.
Watch the news conference live on CTVNewsEdmonton.ca.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Carlyle Fiset
