Bar owners feel ignored. They still have no news of their reopening, unlike other businesses.
The day after the opening of restaurant dining rooms, the Prime Minister, François Legault, announced that gyms, spas, as well as indoor sports and leisure activities will be able to resume service from February 14. For now, he won’t go any further. This situation leaves bars, nightclubs and casinos on the sidelines.
“I’d be curious to know when was the last time he spoke to us. It looks like he’s afraid to say the word ‘bar’,” lamented the owner of Belleys Billard in Victoriaville, Marc-André Vincent.
Mr. Vincent cannot reopen his business, since he does not have a kitchen. It offers pool halls, video lottery machines and alcohol.
His employees, unemployed for more than a month, frequently ask him for news. And he doesn’t know what to tell them. He doesn’t understand why bars are completely left behind.
“There have been nightclubs that have made headlines, and it seems like the whole industry is penalized. We seem to be seen as the bad guys, bad companies from a moral point of view, he says. But a lot of bars do that very well. We followed all the measures and we never had an outbreak. »
The Union of Bar Tenants of Quebec (UTBQ) and the Corporation of Bar, Brewery and Tavern Owners of Quebec (CPBBTQ) said they were “disappointed and exasperated” to have been excluded from the day’s government announcements.
“In bars, the majority of people are sitting around chatting or watching a hockey game. Do not imagine that everyone is dancing on the tables. We are able to enforce sanitary measures, ”says Renaud Poulin, president of the CPBBTQ.
Seems like we’re seen as the bad guys, bad companies from a moral point of view
Highly indebted and financially fragile, the members of these groups are asking for a reopening on February 11, in order to welcome customers for the Super Bowl on February 13. They believe that private gatherings on this occasion would be more damaging than those held in a controlled environment such as bars.
François Legault did not completely close the door to this scenario, declaring at a press conference that the situation will be reassessed. “Will next week we be able to tell you that we can go a little further for Super Bowl day? It was part of the discussions. Mr. Boileau is a football fan,” he said of the interim national director of public health, Luc Boileau.
left in the dark
The various associations of bar owners note a lack of communication on the part of the General Directorate of Public Health, which prevents them from understanding its decisions. The president of the Nouvelle Association des bars du Québec (NABQ), Pierre Thibault, deplored a “lack of respect” towards its members.
Early last week, the NABQ sent a letter detailing its proposals to Public Health. Mr. Thibault said he only received an answer early Tuesday afternoon, during the press briefing from the government and the Dr Boileau. The email mentioned that due to the epidemiological situation, “the relaxation measures are aimed at places and activities that present less risk”, according to Mr. Thibault.
“We are answered with a fait accompli. We would have liked to discuss with them before, he said. They tell us that we are more at risk than the gyms. But we should talk about it. What are the statistics for this? »
Mr. Thibault wonders if bar owners have to threaten to defy the rules, as gym owners have done, to be heard. The UTBQ and the CPBBTQ, for their part, fear that owners will do so in large numbers.