TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2021) Hundreds of Canada's small businesses opened their doors in defiance of COVID-19-induced lockdown orders to protest measures they say are causing irreparable damage to proprietorships, livelihoods and eroding civil liberties.
Despite facing steep fines of up to $79,000, more than 500 small business owners across the country, in at least eight out of ten Canadian provinces, reopened in defiance of strict lockdown measures on Thursday in place across much of the country.
Over 250 businesses made their intention to reopen known publicly, while a few hundred more did so in more covert ways.
Vladislav Sobolev, the founder of the We Are All Essential campaign, which organized the mass action, told Sputnik that frustration among business owners is reaching a boiling point.
"It's insane to think about, we're coming on the one-year anniversary of 'flatten-the-curve' lockdowns," Sobolev said, explaining that if in the initial phase businesses were in the dark about the threats and challenges posed by COVID-19, today companies have an idea about how to mitigate those risks.
We Are All Essential's founder said that he is aware of the risks businesses face by opening up on Thursday but said the day of solidarity will give proprietors a safety net, noting that authorities cannot possibly get through all of the defiant businesses, and added that similar protests abroad have made an impact.
Italy's estimated 300,000 bar and restaurant owners have banded together in an act of defiance, forcing authorities to, largely, stand down, according to reports. Similar protests are now, reportedly, ongoing in Poland and the United Kingdom.
Long-term, Sobolev worries about the lost jobs - business analysts warn of hundreds of thousands of jobs forever lost in the aftermath of the pandemic - as well as the erosion of civil liberties. Sobolev explained that government restrictions are enabling the creation of a dependency culture, which goes against the very independent nature of proprietors.
The 40-year-old business owner warns not only of increased government control and the potential abuses of power that come with it but the decimation of local communities, which rely predominantly on tax streams from small businesses, as opposed to large multinational corporations. As such, the network's founder sees the risk of small businesses being displaced by major corporations, who not only face far fewer restrictions in how they conduct their business but are also the recipients of major government grants and subsidies.
"This is probably the biggest wealth heist in the history of humanity we have seen in the last ten months," Sobolev said. "The corporations... are the ones profiteering tremendously at the expense of hardworking Canadians, and we have to put a stop to this."
Those who did not participate in the protests say that they understand and sympathize with those who took the coordinated stand.
"I definitely understand why a business owner would feel the need to [protest]. For me, the issues are much greater than any message that could be delivered during a single day of defiance," Andrew Kodous, who co-owns the Karnak Cafe in Mississauga, Ontario with his brother, told Sputnik. "I speak for many small business owners when I say the pandemic has absolutely crushed us."
While the government has touted numerous measures designed to get small business owners through the pandemic, Kodous, whose business has essentially been shuttered for over 11 months and has seen a 90 percent revenue drop, said that the measures aren't nearly enough.
"The grants, subsidies and loans that the government has made available to us barely begin to scratch the surface," Kodous says, elaborating that despite the closure, he remains liable for the monthly cost of utilities.
The cafe owner adds that businesses are seeking clarity and transparency from the government in addition to supplementary funds. Kodous says government measures are implemented quickly, often without consultation and can be reversed without notice. He cites an episode last summer, where he and his brother spent nearly $8,000 to renovate their cafe to comply with new COVID-19 guidelines, only to have the local government change the rules a month later.
Kodous says that the mixed messaging from all levels of government makes it impossible to plan ahead, compounding the anxiety.
The frustration and fear among business owners are not unfounded. A sixth of Canadian small businesses impacted by the COVID-19-related restrictions are contemplating closing for good, potentially putting 2.4 million jobs in jeopardy, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said in a report last month.
The number represents a mid-range estimate of the potential impact of the restrictions and the advocacy says as few as 71,000 or as much as 222,000 businesses could close permanently by the end pandemic in addition to the 58,000 businesses that closed up shop in 2020, the report said.
The CFIB declined Sputnik's request for an interview, only saying that they advise business owners to follow local laws, while the advocacy works to "convince governments to create safe paths for them to reopen."
The office of Mary Ng, the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, did not respond to Sputnik's request for an interview.
However, like the protests in Italy, Canada's anti-lockdown grievances appear to be making an impact. In recent weeks provincial governments in Ontario and Alberta have announced the scaling back of some measures.
Ontario began gradually reopening this week, with three public health regions allowed to exit the province-wide lockdown on Wednesday and most other jurisdictions, apart from Toronto and the neighboring regions, expected to join them on February 16.
Martin Masse, the spokesperson for People's Party of Canada leader and a member of the End the Lockdown Caucus Maxime Bernier, warned that various levels of government may choose to reinstitute the measures depending on the progression of the pandemic but that it is nevertheless important to keep the conversation about the issue of lockdowns going.
"For now, the goal is only to have an impact on public opinion, attract more support from representatives and citizens, and show that there is a larger diversity of views on this issue than what we see in the media and establishment political parties," Masse told Sputnik, adding that the movement has Bernier's full support.
Sobolev, meanwhile, echo's Kodous' and Bernier's message saying that progress won't be achieved in a single day of defiance but through persistence day in and day out.
