Premier Doug Ford announced Monday afternoon that the province will soon be entering a lockdown.
The lockdown starts at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 26 and will last for 28 days in parts of the province south of Sudbury. Sudbury and north of the city will have 14 days of lockdown.
Rumours on Sunday had the lockdown occurring on Christmas Eve, but Ford said he is giving businesses a couple more days to get ready.
“We’ve seen in the grey area that businesses are locked down, and we want to give the same opportunities to businesses that haven’t experienced a lockdown before. There are a tremendous amount of them across the province,” said Ford.
“This gives them the opportunity to get ready and to get ready to hunker down. We can’t do it overnight and leave these people with inventory, especially restaurants with food inventory.”
Mayor Jeff Lehman understands the frustration some may be having after today’s announcement, but told BarrieToday that lockdowns are to protect those who need them most.
“This is tough and frustrating but necessary,” said Lehman. “The vaccine is here so as difficult as this is, it will save lives over the next little while until the vulnerable can be protected. While our numbers are far lower than the GTA, they have been moving the wrong way and now hospitalizations are increasing.”
Lehman said that while it is too early to tell the financial ramifications of the new lockdown, he anticipates “significant impacts on transit and recreation although both are already operating at reduced capacity.”
Lehman continued by saying a lot depends on how long into 2021 the pandemic lasts.
Downtown Barrie Business Association (BIA) executive director Kelly McKenna said that after many COVID-related restrictions already and a year’s worth of construction, the businesses in the downtown area are certainly taking a hit.
“This is devastating for our businesses and they must be wondering how many punches they can take,” said McKenna. “That said, BIA business owners and workers are resilient; that has been seen, and I am positive we’ll all roll out of this eventually.”
McKenna said she knows that cases are going up and is aware that needs to be addressed, but wonders if the province “has gotten it wrong,” in how they handle some restrictions.
“We’ve seen more outbreaks at distribution centres and our small businesses have been very safe. They make sure you are masked before going in, there is hand sanitizer at the door, I just believe it is a little unfair at this stage,” said McKenna.
The government announced the new Ontario Small Business Support Grant, which will provide a minimum of $10,000 and up to $20,000 to eligible small business owners to help navigate this challenging period.
There are other grants and rebate information available at the Ontario government website, where Barrie Chamber of Commerce executive director Paul Markle hopes many businesses will go.
“I was glad to see that there was help being put out for businesses during this. I’m afraid there will be some who don’t make it,” said Markle.
Markle admits that the Chamber’s role is to promote business in the community, but he sees both sides of the lockdown argument with regards to starting on Boxing Day instead of immediately.
“I don’t envy the Premier’s job and I do understand that he has to weigh the advice of health and business,” said Markle. “There was probably some pressure from many businesses, particularly in the food industry, where an immediate lockdown would devastate them.”
Markle continued by saying he knows that “the steps being taken were necessary, but 28 days is hard to wrap your mind around for some.”
