Barely the Quebec press conference ended Thursday, retailers and other owners of small businesses rose to the front to make known their opposition to the possible imposition of a vaccine passport.
• Read also: The non-vaccinated refused to the SAQ and the SQDC as of January 18
• Read also: Retailers oppose vaccination passport
• Read also: Closing of businesses to non-vaccinated: mixed reactions
“Such an obligation would be almost impossible to implement, in particular in businesses like ours which only have one employee per store,” says Philippe Antoine Defoy, owner for Quebec and the Maritimes of Popeye’s Supplements.
With 130 stores, including 23 in Quebec, Popeye’s considers itself “the largest sports nutrition retailer” in the country. Usually a lucrative business, especially in the wake of New Year’s resolutions. But with the closures of training centers, he admits, business has already been much better.
“The last thing retailers need right now is a measure that would harm their activities and lead to a drop in traffic,” warns the Director General of the Quebec Retail Council, Jean-Guy Côté.
Too heavy for retailers
The latter recalls that in the midst of a labor shortage, retailers have already complied with several of the proposed measures, including wearing a mask, reducing the number of people in stores and closing for three Sundays in January.
“Adding such a burden – vaccine control – on retailers would be too heavy,” he says. We ask the government not to consider setting up the compulsory vaccination passport in non-essential businesses. ”
At a press conference on Thursday, Minister Christian Dubé confirmed the information from Journal according to which the SAQ and the SQDC will require the vaccination passport of clients as of January 18.
At the same time, he suggested that he might extend the imposition of the same passport to other so-called “non-essential” businesses, such as hair salons. “This is just the beginning,” warned Minister Dubé.
On this, like its provincial counterpart, the Retail Council of Canada warns the government once morest the idea of resting the management of the unvaccinated by commercial employees, “already insufficient in number and under strong pressure “.
“We must consider the current fragile balance, which allows to maintain supply, customer service and strict compliance with the sanitary rules in place,” said spokesperson Francis Mailly.
Finally, the CFIB asks Quebec to clarify its intentions.
“If one relies on the experience of recent closures, one can wonder if the expansion of the vaccination passport is not the prelude to what will soon be experienced by local shops”, says its vice-president, Quebec , François Vincent.
