Regina, February 8, 2022 – We are pleased to see that the Saskatchewan government is continuing to lead the way in announcing it will lift its remaining COVID-related business restrictions by the end of the month. Today’s announcement marks a huge step towards recovery and a new phase for Saskatchewan small businesses.
As we press forward it is important that we don’t slide back. We continue to call on the Saskatchewan government to develop a “stay-open” plan to provide clarity and certainty as we continue to manage the pandemic. Importantly, this would include ensuring there is adequate healthcare capacity to avoid any fresh rounds of restrictions or business closures.
Removing business restrictions is a big step, but only the first towards a small business recovery plan. Currently, only 36 per cent of Saskatchewan small businesses are at normal sales and 15 per cent are still actively considering bankruptcy. The average prairie small business has inherited nearly $100,000 in new debt just to survive the restrictions of the past two years.
We call on the Saskatchewan government to back up today’s announcement with a plan to boost consumer confidence over the weeks ahead. After two years of uncertainty, messaging needs to shift towards encouraging the safe return to activities like dining, seeing a movie, going to the gym, events and travel so that our small businesses can begin the long road to recovery.
- Dan Kelly, President, Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)
- Annie Dormuth, Provincial Affairs Director, Saskatchewan
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Annie Dormuth
Saskatchewan provincial affairs director
403-700-1945
Annie.dormuth@cfib.ca
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 95,000 members (4,300 in Saskatchewan) across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.
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