UCP struggling with thickets of red tape

The UCP government hates red tape. It even has an associate minister, Grant Hunter, in charge of massacring red tape on sight.

Now the UCP is struggling with thickets of its own red tape, created in a rush for the COVID-19 crises.

The results can be bizarre and even damaging.

This week Economic Development Minister Tanya Fir announced relaunch guidelines for various sectors such as restaurants, hair stylists, retail and shooting ranges (but not golf ranges, where inaccuracy is almost as dangerous.)

The rollout came Monday, May 11 — only two days before the government on Wednesday told some businesses they can reopen, subject to those rules.

That’s not just short notice. It’s irresponsibly late notice.

Businesses could not be expected to properly absorb the complex safety rules for their sector, rush to adapt, and then open on Thursday, May 14.

The lack of guidance until the midnight hour is one reason many businesses didn’t open Thursday and won’t for some time.

They had been asking — even begging — for these sector-specific guidelines, ever since the UCP outlined relaunch targets on April 30.

I’ve talked to several business owners who have the same question: How can I open if I don’t know exactly what I’m supposed to do?

Many other businesses have restarted, of course. Patrons can only hope they’re in compliance with health rules that as of Friday were only four days old.

But restaurants, bars and hair salons in Calgary and Brooks are special cases — prohibited from opening until May 25 at the earliest.

This announcement was also inexcusably late.

It came Wednesday, May

13, less than 12 hours before relaunch time. Many pubs and restaurants were suddenly stuck with perishable goods just delivered in time for Thursday food sales.

This caused significant new losses for businesses already pounded by the shutdown.

In one case, the Rose & Crown Pub on 4 Street S.W. spent $3,000 on perishable food.

Kyle Dexter of the Mill Group ownership company said the restaurant’s building was being upgraded during the shutdown, so the Rose & Crown hadn’t built up takeout sales.

Rather sadly, the pub tried doing instant takeout just to recoup even a small fraction of the perishable food cost.

If Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the chief medical officer, thinks those businesses must stay closed for a time because of Calgary’s serious outbreak, that’s fine.

But the government did not have to be so oblique about measures that were clearly under consideration.

Premier Jason Kenney and ministers always said the May 14 opening date depended on COVID-19 spread and hospital capacity.

Kenney and Hinshaw also mentioned the possibility of specific “regional” rules, especially in the past week.

But there was no unmistakable sign that Calgary might be one of those regions.

During the daily news conference on May 7, I asked Kenney specifically if Calgary might have tougher rules because the outbreak is obviously more serious here.

Again, he was clear that there could be regional exceptions. He said he’d talked to the mayor of Brooks about it. He mentioned High River as well.

But not once in his answer did he say the magic word — Calgary.

In the end, High River restaurants were allowed to open but those in Calgary and Brooks were not.

There was an easy way to avoid the damage to one of Calgary’s hardest-hit sectors. Kenney could have said: “I suggest that restaurants and bars in Brooks and Calgary not buy perishable supplies that would be wasted if they can’t open as early as May 14.”

But clarity got lost somehow, in the new world of UCP red tape.