‘Give us some guidelines,’ sectors say

Seek clarity on reopening from governments

TORONTO • By his own admission, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been under a lot of pressure recently to reopen his province’s economy, which has been restrained by measures designed to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.

“I’m getting lobbied hard by so many different groups and organizations,” Ford told reporters recently. “But it’s easy to say, ‘Open, open, open,’ until we get a second wave of this and it bites us in the backside.”

Canada’s business community is not demanding a full and immediate return to the pre-virus status quo, but the country is nearing two months of living under the pandemic and attempts by government to rein in its spread. That has some groups ramping up the pressure on the federal and provincial governments to either release more details about reopening the economy, or allow for a bit more wiggle-room in areas where it can be done safely.

“They certainly are keen to open up again,” Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips told the Post in an interview this week.

Phillips complimented the business community for its response so far to the crisis, but said that businesses are under a lot of pressure, which in turn creates pressure to loosen up the economy.

“They want to know how to do that and how to do that safely. And they want the opportunity to (do it).”

Complicating things at the moment are the sheer number of provincial and municipal governments that businesses have to deal with — the effects and the response to the coronavirus have varied across the country, which could make for an uneven economic restart.

Canada’s political leaders have been trying to provide guidance, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers announcing Tuesday they had agreed to a set of common principles for restarting the Canadian economy. The announced criteria required for a restart included ensuring COVID-19 transmission is under control and monitoring workplace protocols to ensure Canadians are safe on the job.

More blanks could still need to be filled in. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce had suggested national guidelines for reopening, and pushed again on Tuesday to align reopening policies and requirements wherever possible to keep costs and confusion for businesses to a minimum.

“If we have simply a hodgepodge of competing standards in terms of what for a retail operation, for example, would be permissible, and it varies from municipality to municipality, it makes it very difficult for a company to be able to supply materials and advice to people running their stores across the country,” said Perrin Beatty, the chamber’s president and CEO, in an interview on Monday.

The Business Council of Canada had likewise sought agreement “on a common set of risk-informed protocols and guidelines for workplaces and public settings such as schools, universities, parks, and public transit,” wrote Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the council, in an April 16 open letter to the prime minister and premiers.

The food-service industry is also looking to the government for “guideposts,” said James Rilett, the central Canada vice-president for industry group Restaurants Canada. Restaurants want clarity and consistency on issues such as which phase of reopening will include dining rooms, and what restrictions they can expect when it does happen.

Ontario’s government on Monday released details about its “gradual approach” to reopening the economy, including that it could eventually allow businesses ordered to close to adjust their operations and reopen with curbside pickup or delivery.

Ford, however, called this framework “a road map ... not a calendar,” and one that gives a steady two-to-four week decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases as a condition of easing public-health measures.

The business community has been on board with blunt policies to try to flatten the coronavirus curve, but some small businesses have had to entirely shut down while their big-box competitors have been able to stay open because they also sell groceries, according to Dan Kelly, president, CEO and chair of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

In Ontario, at least, small firms could now still have to wait weeks before doing delivery or pickup operations.

“It feels like that there is some room to learn from what’s happened over the last six, seven weeks and ... to allow at least a trace of an economic heartbeat in more small companies,” Kelly said.

Crises always lead to an increase in talks between business and government, according to Public Affairs Association of Canada President Ryan Eickmeier.

“Because of how unprecedented, at least in recent history, the current situation is for businesses, they are putting an increased emphasis on their lobbying efforts to try and ensure their sectors are part of recovery efforts,” Eickmeier said in an email. “On the other side, government officials benefit from the business community’s input to help inform their efforts to reopen the economy, in line with the advice of our chief medical officers.”

Beatty said he has had more calls initiated by ministers and the prime minister in the last two months than in the previous four years.

“There’s a genuine interest to be consultative,” he added.