Economic Recovery Team

Councillors and business leaders to collaborate on path forward

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on the economy of Prince Edward County. The provincially mandated closure of non-essential businesses, restrictions on the hospitality industry and the general reduction in travelling has resulted in loss of revenue for many businesses, and loss of employment for a significant number of County residents. Some businesses have adapted to the new reality by offering a different type of service, for example takeout meals from shuttered restaurants, curbside pickup of merchandise, and online ordering and delivery from grocery stores. Additionally, there are near-daily announcements from the federal and provincial governments on support programs for both businesses and individuals. To help businesses navigate in this constantly changing time, and to chart a path forward as restrictions are eased, the County has formed an Economic Recovery Team comprising a number of councillors and business leaders, with Mayor Steve Ferguson as Chair. “The real impetus to set up this team was the urgent needs of our businesses to continue operating,” said Ferguson. “What is important is to ensure all our businesses have the information they may need and the help they need to continue along in this rather bizarre situation. At this point, our businesses are reliant on our residents, since the province has very much discouraged travel, and without that tourism investment, our businesses are at risk. We are very unsure as to what steps the province is going to take as to reopening the economy and how fast that is going to occur.”

The Economic Recovery Team is tasked with identifying the needs of County businesses and helping to facilitate communication. The team will also look at how to best take advantage of the various programs being rolled out by the federal and provincial governments. In the short term, the team will consider the various supports that are available to keep the economy functioning in the virtual lockdown state currently. As restrictions are eased, the focus will shift to helping entrepreneurs find new ways of doing business. At some point, when the pandemic is declared over, the team will look at how businesses can build resilience into their operations to be able to cope and quickly respond to future extreme events.

Sarah Doiron, Manager of the Picton Business Improvement Association (BIA), is one of the members of the team. She was part of the County’s economy and business task force, working with councillors Mike Harper and Phil St- Jean, that had been created at the outset of the pandemic. Her role is to provide communication between members of the BIA and the Economic Recovery Team. “Right now, people are concerned with developing best practices for when the restrictions start to be lifted, making sure there is a coordinated effort across the board amongst various industries,” she said.

“The other challenge I’m hearing is the absolute uncertainty that everyone is dealing with right now. They want to prepare to reopen whenever that’s allowed, but it’s really challenging to understand what the staffing needs are going to be, and it really depends on what that gradual lifting of restrictions is going to look like.” She said that everybody is looking for clarity in the federal relief programs that are being rolled out. “Because there’s so much change happening so rapidly, it’s an incredible challenge to stay on top of it and understand how it applies to everyone’s specific circumstances. My role is advocacy for businesses, and trying to share as many tools and resources as possible.”

So far the team has had just one meeting, and has made some suggestions and recommendations that will be further explored. “One thing that became clear was to make sure that information that businesses may need or could use has to be better communicated,” said Ferguson. “We’ve got a whole host of other things, such as possible programs to allow businesses to help themselves. But the primary role of the team right now is to identify the needs.” Looking out into the future to a time when the pandemic is over, Ferguson said that council will have to examine all the steps taken and learn from the experience, to prepare for the eventuality that something similar may happen. “It’s really too early at this point to figure out what we’ve learned, because we are learning every hour of every day because the situation keeps evolving so quickly. Everybody is working as hard as they can, trying to react and be proactive at the same time. It doesn’t help that there is so much uncertainty as to what the upper levels of government are going to do, so the ability to plan is hampered. But we are making plans as best we can to make sure our businesses are looked after and can continue to operate during this uncertain time. Most importantly, though, to make sure that our residents have all the support they need to ensure the health and safety of them and their families.”

The members of the Economic Recovery Team are: Mayor Steve Ferguson, Chair; Councillors Mike Harper, Phil St-Jean, Jamie Forrester and Bill Roberts; Adam Busscher, Construction; Alexandra Bake, Retail; Rick Szabo, Hospitality; Krista Dalby, Arts; Sandy Latchford, Professional/Not-for-profit; Samantha Parsons, Value Added Agriculture/Manufacturing; Nora Rogers, Accommodations; Phil Prinzen, Agriculture; Lesley Lavender, PEC Chamber of Commerce; Sarah Doiron, Picton BIA.