As salon owners in Ontario continue to deal with capacity restrictions, reduced hours and appointment cancellations, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has launched a petition to help all businesses in the personal care services sector.
The petition calls on the Ontario government to expand the eligibility for the COVID-19 Small Business Relief Grant. Currently, the $10,000 grant is only available to businesses, such as restaurants, gyms and cinemas, that have been forced to close under the province’s Modified Step Two of the Roadmap to Reopen.
While salons and personal care services are permitted to stay open, they must operate with a reduced capacity of 50 per cent.
According to the CFIB, which is a not-for-profit organization representing 95,000 small businesses across Canada, with 38,000 members exclusively in Ontario, personal care services are still experiencing a significant loss of revenue. The capacity restrictions, work-from-home orders and concerns surrounding the Omicron variant have resulted in appointment cancellations that have forced many businesses to reduce their hours.
Since the start of the province’s recent COVID-19 lockdown, which began on January 5th, CFIB has received a flood of urgent pleas from hairdressers, barbers and nail salons to help expand the new COVID-19 Small Business Relief Grant to include all businesses in the personal care services sector.
CFIB has written a letter to the Ontario government to demand that all personal care services be eligible for the $10,000 relief grant. They’ve also revised their Stay Open petition and relaunched their campaign to help personal care businesses during this difficult time. In addition to expanding the relief grant’s eligibility, the petition calls on the government to commit to ending lockdown restrictions and reopening businesses on January 26th.
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