46% of Saskatoon businesses support keeping proof of vaccination even if province ends it: survey

The Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce has released a snapshot survey on how businesses in the community are feeling about the impending end of public health restrictions. 

Premier Scott Moe is expected to give more details on that Tuesday morning. Some public health restrictions expire at the end of the month, and Moe has said he won't renew them but he may also get rid of them earlier. 

According to the survey, which was posted on the Chamber's Twitter page, businesses mostly support ending restrictions by the end of the month but also many would want to be able to keep things like proof of vaccination on a business-by-business basis. 

Chamber CEO Jason Aebig said the business community in Saskatoon has been great at adapting to changes during this tumultuous time.

"I think what we've seen over the last few years are businesses that have turned themselves inside out, pivoted, adapted, all those verbs, to do what's required to stay open, stay operating and of course keep their employees and their customers safe," he said. 

Aebig said the survey was sent out to the entire membership, around 1400 businesses, and there were more than 500 responses. 

"It takes a lot of effort to implement these mandates, it take a lot of energy to re-orient your operations and ensure that your people feel safe and comfortable and capable of working."

He said talking about the lifting of restrictions is encouraging news, and means that Saskatchewan is moving to a different phase of the pandemic.

Forty-six per cent of business owners surveyed said they would want to keep a health measure like proof of vaccination going at their business. 

Aebig said that no one knows businesses like their owners, and the businesses who want to keep that know what's best for their staff and customers.

Amigos co-owner Jim Clarke said he and his team have decided on at least keeping masks for staff for now.

As for the vaccine passports, they haven't firmly decided yet. Part of what makes these decisions hard is that businesses don't get very much notice at all, Clarke said. And part of it has to do with what Moe and his government will actually propose.

"We kind of wish that it would maybe not really happen for a couple weeks, just to see what happens with our hospital numbers," Clarke said.  

"It seems sort of odd that you'd be removing restrictions when we have a record number of people in the hospital."

Amigos brought in vaccine passports for their live shows before the province touched that topic. Clarke said that was an easy decision in part because the government was providing daily updates on COVID-19 and testing was more widespread. Clarke said there is a lot of uncertainty now with less data and no lead time.

"There's definitely that feeling of fatigue but on the same token, I think a lot of people are feeling that this is right around the corner, that things are looking up. It just seems a little odd that we'd be doing it right [now]," he said.

Though it requires extra staff, the vaccine passport has been great for peace of mind for the staff at Amigos, Clarke said.

Businesses wishing to keep proof of vaccination will need some kind of support from the province, especially legally, according to Aebig.