EAST CENTRAL — In a Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce (SCC) survey, 85 per of businesses that responded have said they felt a negative impact due to COVID-19.
For this survey, the SCC interviewed businesses around the province on the impacts of COVID-19, on March 16 and 17. There were over 1,000 responses from across the province.
Eighty-seven per cent believe the challenges will continue for two months or longer.
According to the SCC, the impacts include reduced revenues; layoffs, workers being off for health reasons due to isolation protocols; “under-utilized labour while still at work”; and the cancellation of work-related travel events.
In the survey, 42 per cent of respondents said that they believed they would see as much as a 50 per cent drop in revenue.
Less than half of the respondents said they had a plan in place to help mitigate the challenges.
The chamber said that businesses are reacting by canceling employee travel and managing both customer and supplier questions on the overall situation. Layoffs have begun and are expected to increase.
“Businesses told us clearly that they are in a very, very troubled position with so many unknowns. The best analogy is that we have suffered an economic gash that needs immediate attention and will take time to heal,” said Steve McLellan, CEO of SCC.
The interview respondents recommended actions that include asking the province to allow temporary layoffs of up to eight weeks on a specific period without requiring an employer to give notice or payment in lieu to the employee.
“Our businesspeople have dealt with this dramatically changing economic landscape as well as could be expected given the circumstances so far,” said Valerie Sluth, chair of the SCC board of directors. “But there needs to be rapid and co-ordinated action by the federal and provincial governments or else we will see closures on a level that we have not seen in this province for decades.”
Other recommended actions from the survey include opening up Federal Employment Insurance (EI) to eliminate waiting periods, allow self-employed persons full access, offer extensions on the work-sharing program, extend or temporarily eliminate the length of time a person can stay on EI, and offer some form of EI for parents who need to stay at home to provide childcare with the closure of public schools.
They have also asked that the government expand loan access to businesses, extend tax windows and ensure access of products across the border.
The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce serves as the voice of business and represents the interests of over 10,000 individual businesses, industry associations, and local chambers across the province through its chamber network.
