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Oakville business community reacts to lockdown 2.0

Official province-wide shutdowns begin Boxing day and will last 28 days at least

Premier Doug Ford announced Monday that every region of the province will begin lockdown Saturday, in an effort to put a halt to record growth in COVID-19 cases over the winter. Southern Ontario’s lockdown will last at least 28 days, when the situation will be re-evaluated by the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

The lockdown is an effort to flatten the curve of transmission in Ontario and avoid the breakdown of the province’s hospital capacity. The spread of the virus in Ontario is accelerating rapidly, with Ontario posting record highs of 2000+ new cases a day for more than a week. More disturbing still, there are currently more ICU beds filled with COVID patients than ever before.

Cases in Halton have also been increasing steadily over the past two months. As of yesterday, there were 145 active cases of the virus in Oakville, 18 of which are being treated at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.

Moving past the Red “Control” stage

This decision will move Halton region from Red “Control” status of Ontario’s COVID response levels to the maximum restriction measures of a full lockdown. New restrictions include a ban on in-store shopping at most retailers, caps on the amount of people allowed into grocery stores at a time and the elimination of both outdoor and indoor dining at restaurants and bars. There have been concerns about customers at shopping and retail locations during the holiday season. Halton Region released new guidelines for retail stores and shopping malls yesterday aimed at avoiding holiday swells of customers. The shutdown will now likely make these guidelines irrelevant (at least from December 26 to January 23).

Reaction from business community

The periodic lockdowns over 2020 have been very hard on the Oakville business community, particularly small independent businesses.

Drew Redden | Drew Redden - Oakville Chamber of Commerce
Drew Redden | Drew Redden - Oakville Chamber of Commerce

“It’s been extremely challenging,” says Drew Redden, president and CEO of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce. He and his organization are in contact with businesses from all over Oakville day-to-day and know the likely effect of further shutdowns. “It’s another challenge we’re asking businesses to overcome. The community has rallied around them over the last nine to ten months or so, and we need it to rally again.”

Lindsay Boardman has felt the squeeze of restricted business operations at Meraki Fitness, the West Oakville gym and sports performance centre she owns and at which she trains clients. “It’s definitely unfortunate what is happening once again to small business owners within our region and has been an especially hard blow to our industry,” she says. In her view, the stress of operating a small business in the pandemic combined with the lack of access to physical fitness during lockdowns represent a disastrous intersection of mental health concerns. She organizes a group of 25 health and wellness focused business owners in Halton and says that they believe there needs to be more coordination done by the provincial and municipal governments.

“I see and hear the struggles being faced every day; and for the politicians or members of the public that say we need to sacrifice a little longer for public safety; they need to remember that these businesses are our livelihood.” Boardman believes that during periods controlled by health and safety measures, there must be more clarity behind the rules about how many and what kind of clients are allowed in. She also believes there must be more consultation with business owners and health professionals about the efficacy of full lockdowns for certain types of businesses.

Provincial funding

Along with the announcement of lockdowns, the Ford government introduced “the New Ontario Small Business Support Grant,” which aims to offset any hurt that small businesses will feel from new restrictions. The grant will offer $10,000-20,000 to businesses that are required to close and which have less than 100 employees. Businesses also must show they experienced at least a 20 per cent decline in revenue in April 2020 in comparison to the previous year. This is designed to fully understand the effect health restrictions (like those from last spring) will have on individual businesses.

“We’re using a wide variety of items just to help people get through this and we will get through it,” said Premier Ford at his press conference today, “We’re throwing every possible support at them.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford | Premier Doug Ford and colleagues (Photo: CPAC)
Ontario Premier Doug Ford | Premier Doug Ford and colleagues (Photo: CPAC)

This funding is the latest in a list of stimulus efforts by Canadian governments to support small businesses at a time when revenue is being limited. “Every program to support these businesses is so critical,” says Redden. “This is one way to support the businesses along with subsidies. The longer we are shut down, the more permanent closures we are going to see and that makes aid more critical than ever. Grant programs are another tool in the toolbox that the government must use to help out.”

Reaction from Halton officials

Several Halton officials reacted enthusiastically to the lockdown announcement this week. Halton Healthcare signed on to a joint statement of medical centres across the GTHA from earlier this week, which urged stricter lockdown regulations. The statement says that health care workers all over Ontario, “are stressed and overstretched,” adding that, “this level of strain is simply not sustainable for much longer.”

“We recognize that lockdown measures are challenging for many members of our communities, but we cannot afford to put patients and health care workers at further risk,” it read.

Rob Burton - Town of Oakville
Rob Burton - Town of Oakville

Today, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton also released a statement in support of the lockdown, writing “If we all pull together, I am optimistic this lockdown can have far better results than the previous four-week lockdowns in Toronto, Peel and York Regions.”

Some officials in Halton had been advocating against blanket lockdown restrictions earlier in the month but, Mayor Burton writes, “Clearly, the virus is spreading so fast now that these measures are needed.”