North Battleford Mayor, Ryan Bater (left); and Battleford Mayor, Ames Leslie (right) shared their thoughts on the upcoming Phase 3 target date, announced yesterday by the province. (File photo/battlefordsNOW)

By Martin Martinson

Local Reaction

Battlefords Mayors react to announcement of Phase 3 target date

May 22, 2020 | 6:22 PM

Thursday afternoon, the province announced June 8^th as the target date for Phase 3 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan.

Phase 3 includes the re-opening of restaurants and food services to 50 per cent capacity, gyms and fitness centres, licensed establishments and child care facilities; as well as the re-opening of remaining personal care services; places of worship; and an increase to the size of acceptable public gatherings.

Battleford Mayor, Ames Leslie, said he was a bit surprised when he heard the announcement reveal a target date as early as next month.

“My initial reaction was oof, that’s like right away, and maybe too soon,” Leslie said. “I don’t know if we’ve fully seen the impacts – the positives or negatives – of Phase 2 yet with it only opening up four or five days ago, but I think time will tell. Personally I was thinking it would be more like a July 8 target date of when I thought Phase 3 would have started, but we’ll put faith in the government and the health officials, that they feel we can balance this Phase 3 opening as soon as June 8.”

Leslie said while it will likely take a while to see the full economic impact from each of the re-open phases, there has already been a noticeable difference to traffic throughout the downtown area, following the commencement of Phase 2 earlier this week.

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“I think visually you’re definitely seeing more vehicles in the downtown core and you’re seeing more people out and about,” he said. “Generally you see a positive economic impact when you see people moving about. I think it’ll take about a month until we really realize how much of an impact that will be, but it’s just good to see the people moving around and starting to attend some of the businesses that are slowly opening.”

North Battleford Mayor, Ryan Bater said while it is certainly encouraging to see businesses begin to reopen and people returning to work, even as things do start to regain some semblance of normality, daily life and business will likely see some lasting impacts following the pandemic.

“I don’t think we were ever going to return to normal the way it was; there will be a new normal and it will be a little bit different,” he said. “But with human beings, part of our success as a species is our ability to adapt and we will all have to adapt, and we all are [adapting].”

Bater added it is important to remember too, that even when Phase 3 does begin, it remains up to the businesses on an individual basis when they do decide to open up.

“Just because restaurants can open, doesn’t mean they all will,” he said. “Every business will make a decision on if opening then is right for them, on a business decision basis and if they’re comfortable in opening to that 50 per cent capacity, [which] some may not be.”

Bater encourages residents to keep tabs on thingsthatareopen.com, for an updated list of establishments within the community open for business.

He said both now and moving forward, shopping local to support community businesses is as important as it has ever been, if not more.

“This has been a really tough time for local businesses and it is really important, to support them now that they are opening up again,” he said. “However we can support those entrepreneurs and business people in our community, it’ll make the community stronger.”

For a list of open establishments within the Battlefords’ community, residents can click here. For more information on the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan, click here.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1