Quebec retailers see “many ambiguities” in new vaccine passport rule

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More than 24 hours after Quebec opted to extend the vaccine passport to big-box stores, retailers across the province still don’t know exactly how to enforce the new restriction.

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Prime Minister François Legault said on Thursday that the vaccination passport would be mandatory from January 24 at big retailers such as Costco, Walmart and Canadian Tire. Small stores (less than 1,500 square meters or about 16,000 square feet) and common areas in shopping centers will be exempt from the measure, as will retailers who derive most of their business from the sale of food or pharmacy operations, added Legault.

Hardware stores, which Quebec considered essential businesses before the pandemic, are no longer recognized as such.

Retailers are now waiting for the government to publish the official decree outlining the details of the new requirement next week. Key uncertainties include whether to give unvaccinated customers access to certain services for emergency repairs and how to treat people who refuse to be vaccinated for medical reasons, industry executives said.

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“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” said Jean-Guy Côté, director of the Quebec Retail Council, which represents most of the province’s retailers and distributors. “We know the date the new requirement goes into effect and the size of the stores that will be affected, but not much else.”

Retailers like Walmart, whose locations include major pharmacy and food sections, seem to pose a particular challenge for regulators. Until the Quebec decree is published, it is unclear whether unvaccinated Walmart customers who want to get vaccinated at the store’s pharmacy will be denied entry due to the vaccination passport requirement, for example.

“We invite unvaccinated people to go to businesses that do not require a vaccination passport to access the services they need,” Laura Fitzback, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health, said by email on Friday. “Unvaccinated people can also use the delivery or pick-up services in the parking lot. Remember that it is not too late to receive your first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Walmart “will take the time to thoroughly review the upcoming official government order in more detail,” Adam Grachnik, the company’s Canadian head of corporate affairs, said by email on Friday. “Ensuring a safe customer experience remains a priority.”

Confusion also surrounds access to operations such as Canadian Tire’s car services, which are typically located next to the company’s stores. Canadian Tire did not immediately respond Friday to an emailed request for comment on the new vaccine passport requirement.

“There are a lot of ambiguities that need to be cleared up,” Michel Rochette, president of the Quebec office of the Retail Council of Canada, said in an interview. His group represents some 15,000 store operators in the province.

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Lowe’s Canada, which owns the Rona and Réno-Dépôt hardware chains, intends to “follow public health regulations and will adjust business practices accordingly to provide a safe shopping experience for all of our customers,” a spokesperson said. identified on Friday by email. “Our home delivery, car pickup and pickup locker services are options that remain available to all of our customers.”

Bookseller Groupe Renaud-Bray on Friday criticized the new measure , calling it “unfair” and “punishing” and urging Quebec to reverse course. Renaud-Bray, which operates several stores of more than 1,500 square meters, also warned that it may need to reduce operating hours due to the new requirement.

“The government has misjudged the impacts of this policy,” President Blaise Renaud said in a statement.

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Quebec retailers are already operating at half their normal capacity due to government restrictions announced last month.

Like most other industries, retail is facing a severe shortage of employees. As of September, according to Statistics Canada, as many as 25,000 retail jobs were vacant in the province.

As if that were not enough, absenteeism is on the rise as the Omicron variant gains ground. At least 20 percent of staff at some Quebec retailers called in sick at various times during the holiday period, Rochette said.

“Asking retailers to verify vaccination passports may not sound like much, but it’s a big deal during a major labor shortage,” Rochette said. The new measure “will create lineups that did not exist before. Even vaccinated clients could get upset. We don’t want to see altercations as a result of this.”

Security “is our biggest concern,” Côté added. “We have seen recent examples in the media of unvaccinated people behaving aggressively. This is the concern I hear most from our members. Retailers have to enforce the rules on behalf of the government, but sometimes people don’t react very well.”

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