Business owners say the Quebec government’s decision to expand the province’s COVID-19 vaccination passport requirements to include more retail services will hurt them.
For Côte-des-Neiges hairdresser Steve Victory, who named his shop Ghost Coiffure out of a playful fascination with the end of life, the fear that the new COVID measures could spell the death of his business is no joke. .
“With this pandemic I have lost almost 75 percent of my business,” he told Global News during a break between clients in his salon.
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Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé announced the new measure on Thursday and Victory fears the effect they will have.
“I will lose even more business,” he said.
He says that many of his clients are undocumented people who fear that going to be vaccinated means risking problems with the authorities.
“About 60 percent of my clients, I guess, are undocumented,” he said.
Victor said authorities must find ways to reach this segment of the population to make sure they are safe.
On top of that, he claimed that requiring the passport will only create more headaches for him, and said that he may have to hire additional staff.
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Business groups have also spoken out against the new measure.
In a press release, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said that the mandatory vaccination passport in Quebec has already affected many small and medium-sized businesses.
According to the document, 36 percent of businesses reported a drop in sales, 35 percent had to spend more on personnel and equipment to scan passports, and 25 percent of merchants claimed to have been abused by customers who they opposed the vaccination mandate.
The group’s vice president in Quebec added that hiring more people to police the new measure will be a challenge given the labor shortage.
“Many employees have to stay home because they have symptoms,” he argued.
The Quebec Retail Council agrees, saying the move will simply put too many small businesses at risk of closure.
“Frankly, we want the government to reconsider its position and maybe find another solution,” said the group’s general manager, Jean-Guy Coté.
A date for the implementation of the new measures has not yet been announced.
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Reference-globalnews.ca