May 2020

f the MINDS
tions of COVID-19 for the foodservice and hospitality industry
anticipated the system would be
overloaded, causing a three- or
four-week waiting period.
From an Ontario perspective,
Tony Elenis, president and CEO
of ORHMA, believes “The entire
Western world could have reacted
quicker with prompt safety
restrictions and controls and the
WHO should have had better
criteria to define a pandemic…
But we now see the government
leaders exemplifying true leadership.
They’re communicating,
collaborating and taking action.
The priority is health; it’s about
safety and controlling the spread
of the virus, closing restaurants,
restricting travel at the right steps
and, of course, it’s tremendously
impacting our industry, but it’s
the right thing to do.” But with
regard to the economic package,
Elenis stresses that “remains to be
seen, as there has not been swift
support yet.” He does add some
provincial decisions are expected
this week. “We’re advocating on
all fronts and hoping for the best
for our industry.”
For now, the top-two priorities
are clear, said Elenis. “[First],
employees have to be taken care
of through a reform of EI. It
comes up over and over again as
the number-1 issue, even from
business owners, because they
want their employees to survive.
We’re talking about extending the
layoff period time frame, because
once they come back after 13
weeks, businesses won’t be able
to support a severance package.
Secondly, it’s liquidity…it’s about
leniency; but we need to also talk
about delaying hydro, utility bills,
property taxes and rent. It’s a big
issue that will put most under.
We’re hearing that a lot of landlords
are sticking to the books,”
and expecting rent to be paid as
usual. But Elenis is hopeful there
will be changes when the Landlord
Act comes under review.
Certainly, as Terry Mundell of
the GTHA, notes, these are challenging
times for government.
“They’re trying to find solutions
but this is the most complex
environment we’ve ever been in.”
Governments, much like us,
says Mundell are struggling to find
the right solutions. “It’s still a real
challenge to get the public-health
situation looked after. Toronto
Public Health, provincial and
federal public health have communicated
quite well, but clearly,
we need more. All the politicians
we’ve talked to, whether it’s senior
finance minister, the mayors, the
councilors, they’re all in the same
boat — they know they have to
act, and they are, but this is far
larger than anybody expected.”
While government has done its
best to deal with the challenges,
Allan Dick, partner at Sotos LLP,
believes “Government messaging
has been a bit confusing. It’s
hard to explain to people why
they can’t go to a safe and clean
restaurant, which can observe
social-distancing protocols, yet
those same people can go to a
LCBO or a crowded supermarket,
where proper hygiene is so much
harder to control.”
Dick applauds the Quebec
government for implementing “a
policy right off the bat for restaurants
to reduce their capacities
by half, which would allow for
social distancing; given the other
regulations that apply to restaurants.
It was a good first
measure and probably something
we should have introduced here
[in the beginning],” he said, adding,
“The one thing governments
have done properly is focus on
employee support because that’s
fairly critical from a number
of perspectives. Making sure
employees can stay at home
where warranted will keep people
from engaging in risky practices
if they feel desperate.” FH
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