Alberta provides a lifeline to restaurants with moratorium on evictions and a working capital grant

EDMONTON, Alberta, June 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Restaurants Canada applauds the Government of Alberta for providing a lifeline to restaurants with a moratorium on evictions and a working capital grant.

"On behalf of the province's more than 11,000 restaurants, I want to thank Premier Kenney and Minister Fir for stepping up and throwing a lifeline to these mostly small businesses," said Mark von Schellwitz, Restaurants Canada Vice President, Western Canada. "Our members tell us they are very concerned about whether they'll have enough cash flow to pay rent, vendors and other expenses over the next few months."

"When restaurants thrive, so do the communities they serve," he added. "We need to ensure that Alberta's restaurants are able to remain viable so that they can bring Albertans back to work and contribute to the province's recovery from COVID-19."

Today Alberta and Saskatchewan both announced commitments to protect commercial tenants from evictions in cases where their landlords are eligible to apply for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program but choose not to. Earlier this week British Columbia made the same commitment.

Premier Kenney's announcement went a step farther to respond to another key recommendation from Restaurants Canada, to provide foodservice establishments with a working capital grant of up to $5,000 to assist with their reopening costs.

About Restaurants Canada

Restaurants Canada is a national, not-for-profit association advancing the potential of Canada's diverse and dynamic foodservice industry through member programs, research, advocacy, resources and events. Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alberta's foodservice sector was a $12 billion industry, directly employing 150,000 people, providing the province's number one source of first jobs and serving 2.8 million customers every day. Alberta's foodservice industry has since lost at least 70,000 jobs and is on track to lose between $2.9 billion to $5.8 billion in annual sales compared to 2019, due to the impacts of COVID-19.