Calgary, November 24, 2020 – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is pleased to see the government has allowed most business to remain open with significant restrictions. Although the new public health orders and restrictions announced by the government will hurt many Alberta small businesses, they are preferable to blanket shutdowns as seen in other provinces.
“Alberta small businesses are in a fragile position with 45 per cent losing money every day they are open, and 40 per cent reporting they will not be able to survive if locked down a second time,” said CFIB Alberta provincial affairs director, Annie Dormuth. “A blanket lockdown would have pushed Alberta small businesses to the brink of closure. The new limited measures will give small business a fighting chance to surviving the holiday season. Its now up to Albertans to follow these new orders and do our part to slow the spread.”
“We are pleased to see the Alberta government adopt measures similar to CFIB’s “Small Business First Policy” into today’s announcement which will allow retail businesses to operate at reduced capacity, and not create an environment of winners and losers,” said CFIB president, Dan Kelly. “The province has taken a limited and targeted approach in its restrictions and does not ask small businesses to cover the costs of protecting society alone. This is a far more well thought out approach than the ones in Manitoba and Ontario.”
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Annie Dormuth
Alberta 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 110,000 members across every industry and region, including 10,000 in Alberta. 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.