Halifax Business Leaders Concerned About Protests Aimed At Businesses
HALIFAX – A Halifax business leader is concerned that demonstrations against the province’s vaccine mandate and Covid regulations will keep getting aimed at local businesses. Paul MacKinnon, CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission says it’s wrong for protestors to target organizations and businesses that are simply following the rules.
“There’s seemingly an organized group of people who are upset with the province’s new rules, around restaurants, in particular, requiring proof of vaccination,” said MacKinnon.
“You shouldn’t be blocking hospital usage; you shouldn’t be blocking businesses who have really had nothing to do with the restrictions in place.”
The latest incident happened on October 8, when a group of protestors had a sit-in on Argyle Street – a busy business area with heavy foot traffic. Several restaurants, bars, and other retail outlets reported receiving very little, if any customers because of the protestors, even though it was Friday night.
It’s not immediately clear what the group’s message was. But given the fact that they gathered on a street full of restaurants and bars on a Friday night, they were likely rallying against the province’s vaccine rules.
“It was kind of a sit-in on Argyle Street…it was basically a large group; they had signs and were in a position where customers either couldn’t get to the restaurants or felt intimidated or whatever,” described MacKinnon.
“As far as I know, there was no violence – I don’t think the protestors were physically interacting with customers.”
MacKinnon said the police were called to Argyle Street but not much was done. He understands there is little that can be done when protestors are on a public street, even if it disrupts businesses.
“There’s probably not a whole lot that can be done about it,” said MacKinnon. “If protestors want to gather anywhere on a public space, they’re able to do that. It’s just unfortunate that for whatever reason, they seem to be contacting the restaurants themselves.”
“I think the expectation is we will see more of these. Whether they will grow in size or number, I’m not sure. I don’t think there’s a great understanding about how big this group is or how many people are upset enough that they want to go on protesting on a weekly or daily basis.”
Following the Argyle Street incident, MacKinnon and the business commission hosted a call with other business leaders, as well as representatives from the HRM and Provincial Government. The meeting was set to gather information about the Argyle Street protest and discuss options in case more protests disrupt local businesses.
“That was our concern; are these protests in front of restaurants going to become a regular thing? If they are, what sort of power do the police have to break it up,” said MacKinnon.
“But everyone on the call recognizes that we live in a democratic society and people certainly have the right to gather and protest.”
Patrick Sullivan, CEO of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, was also on the call. He said it’s disappointing to see protestors disrupt people who have nothing to do with the laws being made.
“I was very disappointed, and that’s putting it mildly, to hear there are people in Nova Scotia who don’t care about the impact to businesses and who selfishly decided they needed to make a statement to businesses who have been ordered (to follow the mandates),” he said.
“If they have issues, they should be contacting their MLAs, they should have voted in the summertime, they should protest at Province House.”
But Sullivan isn’t so worried about these protests growing or becoming a regular event. He sees this group as being a small portion of the population. And, as more and more people become vaccinated, they will have even less of an impact.
“I was hesitant to even speak to you, and you can put that in print…because I don’t want to give these people more airtime and more publicity than they deserve,” said Sullivan.
“They are an extremely small proportion of the population.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
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