Attorney General David Eby says the provincial government is fast-tracking work on how to streamline patio approval for restaurants struggling under the pandemic, to provide more space for licensees to use outdoor seating.
To achieve that, the province is handing jurisdiction of most of the approval process over to city governments.
鈥淭he provincial government won鈥檛 be slowing it down,鈥� he said Wednesday. 鈥淲e understand every day matters right now.
鈥淧ublic health advises us that people will be safer outside compared to inside,鈥� Eby noted, 鈥渁nd with limited inside footprint for many restaurants they鈥檙e looking at ways of 鈥榟ow can we get even close to the numbers we need to stay open if we鈥檙e only allowed so many people inside the restaurant?鈥欌��
鈥淪o allowing people to have additional socially distanced seats outside will help them make the bottom line and it might make the difference between staying open or closing for a restaurant.鈥�
Eby spoke Wednesday during a 鈥渄igital town hall鈥� meeting hosted by the Surrey Board of Trade, through Zoom teleconferencing.
The attorney general, meanwhile, noted that liquor regulation is a 鈥渕ulti-level, incredibly challenging beast to negotiate.鈥�
Before a business can have a patio, he explained, it must have the consent of the civic government that it鈥檚 in an appropriate location.
鈥淪o if you make it through the municipal hurdle you have to provide your plans to the provincial government as well, an inspector approves the plans for safety and capacity, and then returns those approved plans to you, you build your patio and then and inspector comes and inspects the patio to make sure that it meets what the original plans said, and then the city almost certainly comes and does an inspection as well,鈥� Eby said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a long process. And when the weather turns good, there鈥檚 a lot of people who say 鈥業 think I should get a patio for my restaurant鈥�, and they find out it鈥檚 going to take about six months to get a patio鈥ur vision is that most of the approval process now will lie in the hands of the municipal government.鈥�
Ian Tostenson, CEO of the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association, told Black Press Media in an earlier interview that patios will be integral to allowing local restaurants with spacial concerns to reopen with maximum profitability while keeping guests and staff safe.
The association, along with a number of other groups such as the BC Craft Brewers Guild, has penned a letter to all mayors and councillors across the province requesting expedited patio permitting and rezoning.
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Eby also noted the government has deferred license fees in the casino and liquor sectors that are typically due on June 30.
鈥淥bviously, if your pub or restaurant is not open, paying those fees is just adding insult to injury so we鈥檝e actually deferred that until you鈥檙e open and running.鈥�
Meantime, Eby noted liquor stores have seen a 鈥渄ramatic increase鈥� in sales during the pandemic.
鈥淎 lot of people questioned why we might have liquor as a service that was still open during the pandemic,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important to recognize that both liquor and cannabis sales, the reason why they鈥檙e regulated industries, why the government engages in these industries, is because we want them to be regulated, there are social harms that are associated with using these controlled substances and to turn the entirety of either liquor or cannabis over to the black market during the pandemic did not seem like a very good approach to us.
鈥淲e certainly did not want to see a significant number of people who are addicted to alcohol showing up at emergency rooms in withdrawal in the middle of a pandemic either.鈥�
鈥� with files from Ashley Wadhwani, Black Press Media
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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