INNISFAIL – Town council has sent a letter to Premier Jason Kenney encouraging the provincial government to explore alternate ways of balancing necessary health restrictions with the needs of small businesses.
Mayor Jim Romane, noting council’s concern for the well-being of local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, brought up the issue at town council’s regular meeting on Jan. 25.
“As elected officials at the municipal level, we appreciate the efforts the Government of Alberta has made to protect public health while attempting to limit the impact of the virus on the provincial economy," said Romane in the letter, which was endorsed by council by resolution at the Jan. 25 meeting. "While we understand lessons have likely been learned along the way, it appears all restrictions and measures have been very carefully thought out, developed and implemented over the course of the last year.
“In light of recent discussions both amongst ourselves and with some of our municipal neighbours, however, it is becoming increasingly evident ongoing restrictions will result in more and more of our community's small businesses being unable to survive," added Romane.
“Among those that were fortunate enough to prevail through earlier closures and restrictions, we are now anticipating many to unfortunately succumb."
The letter continued with three requests for the province to consider.
• Relaxing existing restrictions in a manner that reflects, and directly corresponds with a geographic region's number of active cases;
• Allowing businesses to re-open/increase capacity in municipalities and geographic regions in which an appropriate per-capita rate of active cases (on the low end) has been achieved;
• Revisiting existing funding and relief programs to ensure the level of support being provided aligns with the true needs of small businesses.
The letter in its entirety can be viewed at www.innisfail.ca/news
