CFIB favours rapid testing, tracing, more vaccines over lockdowns

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Ontario’s third province-wide shutdown, which Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday, isn’t going over well with small businesses.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) wants all provincial governments in Canada to seek lockdown alternatives in order to combat a third wave of COVID-19 while increasing their financial support of small business.

The CFIB says it prefers rapid testing, contact tracing and more vaccine availability over lockdowns.

“It is unconscionable that over a year into the pandemic governments continue to rely almost exclusively on blanket lockdowns,” CFIB President Dan Kelly said in a statement released Thursday.

“The first two shutdowns were devastating with one in six businesses considering permanent closure, for an estimated 74,000 permanent small business closures expected in Ontario. A third round will only ensure that number grows higher. CFIB urges governments to now make use of the other tools at their disposal, including making widespread use (of) rapids, as well as renewed contact tracing efforts and expedited vaccine rollouts as alternatives to closing battered small businesses.”

A recent CFIB survey found two-thirds of small businesses would consider using COVID-19 rapid tests to remain open.

The CFIB is also “deeply” concerned governments across the country have closed their grant applications this week as new lockdowns loom.

It points out that, on average, Ontario small businesses have $207,000 in COVID-19-related debt with three-quarters saying it will take over a year to pay it back.

“Small businesses are tired of being a scapegoat for the Ontario government’s lack of planning or foresight,” Ryan Mallough, CFIB director of provincial affairs for Ontario, said in a statement.

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“For months, they have been told that there is light and the end of the tunnel or a new announcement that’s a ‘game changer,’ and for months nothing has changed,” he said. “Toronto and Peel have been largely shut down since November while cases have climbed and fallen and climbed again in that time frame with thousands of small businesses never seeing a single customer.”

“To continue the same broken approach is a choice. A choice that is costing thousands of Ontarians their jobs and livelihood,” Mallough said. “We have to do better.”