“Save the restaurants Mr. Legault!” Launches the Association des restaurateurs du Québec (ARQ), which wants the government to offer a “predictable and structured” framework for the reopening of restaurants in all regions of Quebec.
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It is through a mobilization campaign that the organization will try to make the voice of its members heard.
This will result in the sending of hundreds of postcards to Prime Minister François Legault and to the deputies of the respective regions, as well as the signing of an online petition on the platform. Change.org.
“We are not trying to confront the government or oppose the efforts that need to be made to stem the pandemic.” It’s just that you don’t feel like you’ve got all the listening and help you deserve in recent months, ”says François Meunier, ARQ’s vice president of public and government affairs. , contacted by The newspaper.
“This is no longer possible”
The association therefore wants a “predictable and structured” reopening plan to assure members of the industry that they have not been forgotten and allow them to be ready when the time comes.
“No one is going to tear their shirt if the government tells us that we will have to wait until after the school break. But don’t let them tell us that we still have to be closed until June, that’s no longer possible! ”Emphasizes Mr. Meunier.
This plan should also include “direct help” for restaurateurs, whether their establishment is open or not, believes the organization. And not in the form of loans, she claims.
“A subsidy program modulated according to the drop in income added to the sales of a reopening of dining rooms will finally allow managers to repay the many government loans contracted since the start of the pandemic,” writes the ARQ in a press release published on Tuesday. morning.
Hope
While dining rooms have remained closed in most regions of Quebec for seven of the past 11 months, losses exceed $ 5 billion, says Meunier.
However, he recalls that the national director of public health, Dr Horacio Arruda, himself confirmed in December that catering establishments have not been shown to be places of outbreak.
“The opening in the orange zone remains complex, the flexibilities are not extraordinary. But at least it gives us hope of resuming normal life, ”concludes the spokesperson for the ARQ.
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