(File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

MTA Reacts to Re-Open Sask.

‘The anxiousness is gone’: Melfort Trade Alliance happy with Re-Open Saskatchewan

Apr 27, 2020 | 11:32 AM

The past month during the COVID-19 pandemic has been filled with peaks and valleys for small business owners.

On March 22, Melfort Trade Alliance President Tyler Fahlman expressed how frightening it was to be a business owner shortly after the Government of Saskatchewan declared a State of Emergency. Federal and provincial funding programs announced shortly after eased some worries for the near future, but it was when the province unveiled the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan on April 23 that showed light at the end of the tunnel for small business owners across the province.

Personal medical services and low-risk outdoor activities can open during Phase One of Re-Open Saskatchewan; non-essential and personal retail services during Phase Two. Phases Three through Five – which includes restaurants, gyms, and indoor and outdoor recreational activities – don’t have a set date to open.

“The anxiousness is gone,” Fahlman told northeastNOW. “[Businesses in Phases Three and Four] were hoping for a little more information with hard dates, but they do understand by slowly starting to open things up at the beginning, it will be possible to potentially open up sooner. If [the province] went full blown and opened everything up, in a month from now we can be completely sent back down to where we are right now.”

Fahlman said he and fellow business owners in Melfort have been in talks with their staff to ensure everyone is on the same page for when they can all re-open.

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“A lot of employees who we let go or had to cut hours are all wanting to be at work… they’d rather be productive,” he said. “To get everything up and running is a welcome site and pretty much everyone is ready to re-open if they’re able to. The dates set are able to make people budget for how long they’ll potentially have to keep their doors closed to make it easier.”

However, Re-Open Saskatchewan doesn’t leave all business owners without some concerns. Fahlman said while businesses have been taking precautions to encourage social distancing on their respective grounds, there are worries about businesses being overcrowded during the first few days of Re-Open Saskatchewan and larger family functions resuming with warmer temperatures.

“The community, once we kick off and get back to normal, will thrive towards any public gatherings,” Fahlman said. “It will be a larger amount of people there than we’ve had attend in the past, just because people have been stuck at home or isolating for so long.”

Regarding larger public events, Fahlman said 2020 could be a “write off” year and businesses and the MTA could be postponed to a later date. Some events such as the Melfort Show N Shine and Melfort Exhibition have yet to be called off.

Phase One of Re-Open Saskatchewan begins on May 4 with personal medical services and low-risk outdoor activities such as fishing and boat launching being allowed to re-open.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow