Small businesses in downtown Windsor ask premier to change lockdown rules

The Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association has written to the premier, pleading for changes to the provincial lockdown rules, in order to help small businesses.

The organization wants to see changes that wouldlevel the playing field between small retailers and big-box stores.

The letter reflects apetitionthat has attracted more than 12,000 signatures, whichthe B.I.A.launched ahead of the regional lockdown.

Windsor-Essex entered the greylockdownstatus on Dec. 14, in the middle the holiday shopping rush.

A week and a half later, DWBIA Chair Brian Yeomans said businesses remainfrustrated because they find the government is giving an unfair advantage tobig-box stores, allowingthem to operate at a reduced capacity, "which is still hundreds of people or at least 100 people," he told Chris dela Torre onAfternoon DriveWednesday.

Yeomans said it's unfair this is permitted whilesmall businesses, which have a capacity offive or fewerpeople andhave "bent over backwards to accommodate all the changes from the health unit," were toldto close, whilebig box storesare allowed "to sell whatever they want" and continue to make "mega" profits.

"There's no question that we support the concerns from the health unit to make sure that everybody's social distancing and being safe. That's not that's not what's at question," Yeomanssaid. "The issue is that they're they're not being given a fair shake."

NDP MPPfor Essex,Taras Natyshak,released a statement on Wednesday also urging the provincial government to help small businesses.

"More small businesses in Essex are now in dire straits and on the verge of shutting down forever asCOVID-19 and Doug Ford's uneven lockdown has left them struggling to survive," the statement reads.

Natyshak is urging the Conservative government to provideurgent, ongoing financial supports for small businesses in Essex County to get them through the pandemic, instead of a one-time payment.

City of Windsor supports petition

The statement saidNatyshakalso finds it unfair stores, such as Walmart, are allowed to operate, "filling up with sales at the expense of the mom and pop businesses in every municipality in Essex County."

Yeomansaddedthat he hopes the government comes to the table to discussways to make it a "fair game" for all businesses.

"This is a time when we need to support our small businesses, from the local level, from the provincial level, from the federal level," he said.