New restrictions: “a never-ending marathon for small and medium businesses”

Various advertisements made by Quebec Thursday will weaken small and medium businesses again, worrying the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), which is urging the government to review its plans.

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At the dawn of a third year marked by economic restrictions due to the pandemic, the Confederation of African Football (CFIB) office warned of the resilience of small business owners who are toying with these frequent closures “sooner or later”.

“Before the December restrictions were imposed, nearly one in four small and medium-sized businesses were not expected to do so by the end of 2022 due to sub-par revenue,” said François Vincent, vice president of CFIB in Quebec, in a press release on Friday. For SME leaders who have to shut down their businesses or slow down service delivery again, it’s the equivalent of running an endless marathon.

The CFIB stresses that the level of debt contracted due to COVID-19 is “alarming,” reaching an average of $200,000 for restaurants with dining rooms and an average of $100,000 for small and medium businesses in Quebec.

For restaurants, this will be a hard hit and they, along with gyms, cinemas, events and entertainment centers, are among the sectors hardest hit by the restrictions. For retail businesses, we can question Sunday’s closing, which will generate very high demand on Saturday. This is why we are asking the Quebec government to allow a curbside truck for Sunday,” Mr. Vincent added.

The Federation is also concerned about the impact of postponing the start of the school year to January 17 for primary and secondary schools. In fact, with nearly two out of every three SMEs facing a labor shortage, the absence of employees who must take care of their children will put more pressure on these SMEs.

Half of all companies in Quebec have fewer than five employees. Therefore, for them, the loss of an employee represents a 20% reduction in production strength,” said François Vincent.

The union, which believes that closing businesses is “only a last resort”, is asking the government to improve the administration of rapid tests to democratize them, and to assess the possibility of reducing the length of time incarceration for people without. symptoms.

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