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After three months in strict lockdown to protect against the spread of Covid-19, the Government of Manitoba opted to loosen restrictions to allow for some businesses to open their doors and allow customers in. Less than a week later the province issued another public health order to put formal restrictions on interprovincial travel.
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The border restrictions began on January 29, and ask that anyone entering Manitoba from anywhere in Canada for non-essential purposes to go into self-isolation for 14 days. Along with the restrictions came exemptions, that for most part, allow anybody who regularly travels to the province for work, business, or otherwise to avoid the two week quarantine.
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This is the second time Manitoba has implemented border restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 through interprovincial travel鈥攖he province previously had similar rules in place with exemptions for regular travellers in the early spring of 2020.听
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For border towns where interprovincial travel can have a major impact on business, the implementation of the 14 day quarantine could have an effect on local economies going forward.
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The pandemic has hit the hospitality sector about as hard as any industry and although the border restrictions may play a role in reduced customer traffic from Manitoba, Red Barn owner Dan Davidson says it鈥檚 hard to pinpoint exactly one reason under the Covid-19 umbrella as to why sales are down at his Moosomin restaurant.听
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鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to say how Manitoba鈥檚 restrictions impact us,鈥� he said. 鈥淛anuary was a little worse off sales wise compared to what we would have seen in November and December, but there鈥檚 so many factors in that鈥攍ike being after Christmas鈥擨 just can鈥檛 put my finger on the reasons behind it. Obviously it鈥檚 Covid, but the decreases are a little bigger in January and I don鈥檛 know exactly why. January is generally just a terrible month, the worst of the year no matter how we look at it鈥擩anuary, February, and March are usually by far our worst. So it鈥檚 even worse than before, but it鈥檚 hard to put a finger on exactly what difference that (Manitoba鈥檚 lockdown) actually made compared to just Covid-19 in general.鈥�
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With his restaurant located right on the Trans-Canada Highway in a border town, Davidson says many of his customers tend to be travellers and the pandemic has caused much of that business to drop.
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鈥淭ypically the larger part of our business is transient,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t runs over half of our volume鈥攊f you鈥檙e talking annually. It boosts us up a lot in June, July, August, and September are even busier then. Between the highways and the hotels鈥攊f I can call that transient鈥攁 good bit of our annual volume comes from those spots and so we haven鈥檛 seen that with Covid. Highways are nothing like they used to be because people aren鈥檛 travelling so we lose all of that opportunity.听
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鈥淎s far as locally, you might be kind of doing the same鈥攎aybe a little less because people aren鈥檛 moving as much鈥攂ut people still want to get out when they can here. I鈥檇 say the biggest part of the decrease is that extra stuff we usually have, but we don鈥檛 have.听
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鈥淲e maybe get a little bit of it, but it鈥檚 nothing like we鈥檙e used to. All in all, I just get excited for May. I kind of have that date in my head and I have for awhile, I鈥檓 crossing my fingers that we have enough vaccinations by then that we can at least kind of get moving again. The mine gets all their construction going at the beginning of May and the hotels get busier because of that鈥擨鈥檝e kind of got May down as the point where things will start turning the corner for us hopefully.鈥�
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Covid-19 has caused declines for all kinds of businesses and that will continue for the foreseeable future鈥攅specially in a hub community like Moosomin that generally attracts people from outside of the area鈥攂ut Davidson isn鈥檛 sure how quickly things will return to normal once the vaccine is accessible to the general public.听
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鈥淚t鈥檚 so tough (to point to one factor of Covid),鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have hockey tournaments taken away which takes away other teams which takes away people and people using the hotels鈥攖ypically we鈥檇 have teams staying at the hotels during certain tournaments.听
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鈥淯sually the high school would have their volleyball and basketball tournaments, there would be Christmas party catering, mine catering鈥攚e did a lot of catering there鈥攁nd that kind of stuff is just gone because everything needs to be packaged now and there鈥檚 no buffets. There鈥檚 so many factors and so as they start loosening the restrictions, we鈥檒l wait and see because obviously it鈥檚 not going to fall back into how it was.听
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鈥淵ou can look at it two different ways, you can say, 鈥榥ew habits have been formed so will the way people do things be different?鈥� Or are people going to actually have some saved money and be going stir-crazy that everybody is going to go crazy and the economy鈥檚 going to boom? I鈥檝e given it a lot of thought and read lots of articles and I truly don鈥檛 know which one it鈥檚 going to be, we鈥檙e going to have to wait and see. I think it would be moreso on the boom side because we鈥檙e social creatures and we can鈥檛 stand not socializing which I think will help. On a positive side, the way I look at it is we鈥檙e lucky here with the mine construction. That鈥檚 the number one thing, because it鈥檚 the one activity I know even with slight Covid restrictions is going to happen and that just brings outside money into our community and that benefits everybody, I don鈥檛 care who it is, that benefits everybody.鈥�
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Despite how hard 2020 was, Davidson is expecting 2021 to be even tougher with less help from the government and potentially another full year of trying to operate with restrictions while the uncertainty around when the vaccine will become accessible remains.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 not great (operating with restrictions),鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have a lot of staff and we haven鈥檛 really had any layoffs during operations so we鈥檙e trying to do our best and keep it going. I have found that we have to get a little tight in January and February with our hours because the subsidies aren鈥檛 there anymore. We are finding that our losses are bigger right now than they were before, I think a lot of restaurants are going to see that the programs earlier on were better and its gotten weaker.听
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鈥淭his is when restaurants鈥攐r anybody that鈥檚 struggling with lower sales鈥攁re going to find it鈥檚 a little harder right now. The losses will be bigger now than they were before and it鈥檚 just going to be who can handle losing that kind of money and start up again.听
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鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to kind of be the test for everybody in the cities or anywhere, I don鈥檛 care where it is, 2021 could end up being harder than 2020. If there鈥檚 a lot of payments not made and they鈥檙e advertised as being put into 2021, there鈥檚 extra debt load taken on, tax time is going to come around and whenever they ask for the CERB cheques鈥攊t鈥檚 all taxable income and they鈥檙e going to be looking to reclaim it and how many people are going to be hit with that?听
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鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be a lot of factors in 2021 that we鈥檙e going to have to keep our eye on, you never know what鈥檚 going to happen to people and if it鈥檚 going to take money out of people鈥檚 pockets. There鈥檚 a lot of factors in 2021, there鈥檚 going to be more factors and less money being pushed around by the government.鈥�
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