At a news conference held yesterday, Premier Heather Stefanson announced an additional $10.3 million through an extension of the Sector Support Program and $6 million for the arts and culture sector who have been affected by public health orders. The Premier also announced a loosening of public health restrictions. While the changes have a limited impact on business, some highlights for the Chamber Network include:
- Retail businesses in the Southern Health-Santé Sud health region may now operate at 100% capacity.
- Restaurants and licensed premises may now serve liquor until 12:00 a.m. daily.
- Capacity limits at gyms, casinos, museums, galleries, movie theatres, concert halls, professional sports and performing arts events move to 50% capacity with proof of immunization (the previous 250 cap has been removed).
- Physical distancing and mask requirements, as well as vaccine mandates remain in place, which the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce believes are appropriate measures.
We are supportive of the direction that the Province is taking. Most importantly, we support the government’s decision to provide funding for those businesses who are still not able to operate at full capacity. An extension of the Sector Support Program is what we had been asking for, so we are pleased to see the government’s continued support of Manitoba’s business community.
More information on the Sector Support Program is available at https://manitoba.ca/covid19/programs/issp.html
The new public health orders will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday February 8 and remain in place until February 22. Manitoba remains at the Orange (Restricted) level under the Pandemic Response System.
