The Board Chair of the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce says he’s struggling to find a silver lining when it comes to the heated debate of potentially mandating proof of vaccines for employers.
Larry Gibson says a recently released survey by the Alberta Chamber of Commerce asked for businesses to provide feedback about mandating proof of vaccinations, including implications for hiring and retention and customer relationships. He says while that data hasn’t been compiled and released, they are hoping to gauge what entrepreneurs and business owners see as positives and negatives of any sweeping changes.
“Just getting thoughts on what they’re facing, what they’re thoughts are, [if they’re] for or against, or whatever… we want to get that information directly from employers,” he adds.
Gibson says the challenges facing businesses, not only having to deal with safety measures at work but keeping businesses running, and keeping the public safe, have created difficult circumstances for everyone. However, he says they’re also seeing the effects of a comparative lack of decision-making by those in power.
“As other provinces move ahead with some of those mandates, it’s making it difficult to do work across the borders,” he says.
“It doesn’t matter if they go left or right, there is going to be an impact, and you’re never going to make everyone happy with the decisions you make,” he adds.
The Alberta Chambers of Commerce survey wrapped up on Sunday, and Gibson says he believes they will take that feedback and provide it to the province.
