NDP Jobs Critic Aleana Young during a media availability on Jan. 18, 2022. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

By Britton Gray/ CJME News

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The Saskatchewan NDP feels businesses in the province are being left to fend for themselves by the government.

“We are the only province without relief programs (for businesses),” Jobs Critic Aleana Young said Tuesday. “Small businesses are resilient, but this is the hardest month of the year for many and the government isn’t even doing the bare minimum. They are doing nothing at all and doing nothing is not a plan.”

Saskatchewan businesses are not eligible for a number of federal supports because the province hasn’t brought in any lockdown measures or restrictions. On Facebook on Tuesday, Premier Scott Moe reiterated the government will not be bringing in restrictions because of how quickly the virus has been spreading in provinces that do have stringent ones in place.

“This government’s public health measures during this fifth wave are about as useful as half a haircut,” Young said. “You can go on any federal website and you will see all of the programs available and it will say ‘excluding those in Saskatchewan’ as this is a government who prefers to bury its head in the sand, cater to those on the fringes and refuses to consider any public health measures but not only will keep people from getting sick but will allow the economy to function.”

So Young and the NDP are calling on the province to do three things to provide support to businesses.

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“We’re calling for the Saskatchewan Wage and Rent Subsidy to be extended to small and medium(-sized) businesses, matching the local lockdown program accessible to businesses in every other province,” Young said.

“Second, we’re calling for a proof of vaccination implementation grant to offset business costs associated with checking for proof of vaccinations. Finally, we are reupping our call for a cap on delivery fees as called for by Restaurants Canada and as we saw in place during other waves of this pandemic.”

Young said the federal programs allow businesses to have anywhere from 25 to 75 per cent of wage and rent costs offset, and recently lowered the percentage of revenue lost that businesses needed to prove they suffered from restrictions and lockdowns.

“We’re calling on the province to implement that program for businesses here in Saskatchewan,” Young said. “We’re not calling for a lockdown. What I’m hoping to draw attention to is this government is steering us into an unintended lockdown.

“Schools are unable to stay open, not because they’ve been closed to government action but to government inaction and I believe we are going to see that with businesses as well.”

Young, who owns the Takeaway Gourmet cheese shop, said she has been hearing from retail and food and beverage services who have been some of the hardest hits due to COVID-19.

“It is grim. We’re hearing from Dr. (Saqib) Shahab that people should stay home and limit their contact with others and only doing what is deemed essential. We are seeing that impact on small businesses,” Young said. “You’ve got businesses who are so short-staffed right now that they can’t even keep the doors open. It’s a recipe for disaster.

“I know (a business) here in Regina that have 40 per cent of their staff off due to exposure or due to what we are seeing in terms of the outbreaks happening in schools right now and parents forced to stay home with their children and isolate them.”

With businesses trying to find a way to stay open with no supports if they have to close, Young says there’s a lot of pressure on business owners and their mental health.

“I’ve experienced it first-hand and anyone you speak to in the hospitality sector will echo the same,” Young said. “People need access to mental health supports.

“Everyone is tired, whether it is customers or workers or business owners and the toll this is taking not just on people’s physical health but emotional and mental health is significant and something we will be addressing collectively as a province for not just months but years to come.”