THUNDER BAY — A new report shows how the Ontario government's COVID-19 restrictions continue to threaten the viability of numerous Thunder Bay-area businesses.
The Northern Policy Institute on Tuesday released the results of its latest local business survey.
Conducted in February, it found that 35 per cent of 66 business operators classified the strategic risk that COVID-19 poses to their long-term prospects as "highly negative."
This is more than double the percentage of businesses that expressed that level of concern in the previous survey, which was conducted in November 2020, but similar to the NPI's first survey last spring.
In the new survey, another 34 per cent said COVID-19 posed a "medium negative" risk, which is consistent with the November survey.
The NPI says the figures suggest that concern regarding long-term business prospects has increased in recent months, and that some operators believe they will have to close their business.
"For January-February, there was an increase in the percentage of respondents experiencing reduced hours (50 per cent), reduced staff (41 per cent) and operating online (38 per cent). It is the highest percentage...since May 2020," the new report states.
Three per cent of respondents reported they had closed permanently because of the impact of COVID-19, compared with only one per cent in the entire period between May and December 2020.
Thirty per cent said they had temporarily closed their business, a sharp increase from only four per cent in November.
According to the NPI, this helps to illustrate how harshly the second wave of the pandemic and subsequent province-wide shutdown impacted businesses.
A province-wide stay-at-home order was implemented after Christmas and lasted until mid-February.
However, in April a new stay-at-home order was issued.
The NPI said it does see a positive note, in that results from the past year of surveys indicate that recovery is possible post-COVID, and that the risk to long-term business prospects diminishes once government-imposed restrictions are relaxed.
However, research manager Rachel Rizzuto said the surveys have also shown that the continuation of government supports during recovery is critical even after restrictions are loosened.
