Over 60 people participated in a virtual roundtable hosted by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce that included local officials along with business owners.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how those most impacted by COVID-19 move forward for the time being.
Chamber CEO, Todd Corrigall told MyPGNow.com when you look at situations like this, it all comes down to finances.
“What are those tax remediation and mitigation opportunities, what are the funding models that are available and how quickly will those programs have been announced, broad strokes, anything to do with finances is going to be a big topic.”
Corrigall states while the impacts of COVID-19 may vary by community, many businesses and their employees are in the same boat.
“Obviously, there are a number of locations that have furloughed, laid off staff or have closed altogether but the challenge for those employees are those skills transferrable to another job or industry and if not, what are the training and recertification opportunities that will exist for them through that recovery process.”
“Everyone is going to feel it in one way, shape or form, so the net result right now is that we’ve got some forced closures on what are being called non-essential businesses and then we’ve got other businesses that are operating with reduced hours and staffing. So, really, the impacts are quite widespread even if a community has active cases or not.”
He adds one of the biggest pieces was the 75-percent wage subsidy and when that’s going to flow.
Parliament will sit through the weekend to try and get it passed and possibly look at an extended aid package.
As for what’s next for the Chamber, Corrigall said they are looking to engage more people within the central interior.
“The next step for us is that we’re working on a much larger group of businesses and elected officials in the central interior and the north of BC so that we can start to develop some common threads and provide a much stronger voice on what’s happening outside of the Lower Mainland.”