The Vaccine Passport: Growing Tension At The Doors Of Businesses!

A text by Jean-Guy Côté, General Manager of the Quebec Retail Council, Michel Rochette, President - Quebec of the Retail Council of Canada and Richard Darveau, President of the Quebec Hardware and Construction Materials Association

MAIL FROM READERS. Since January 24, businesses of more than 1,500 m 2 have somehow imposed the vaccine passport on their doors. Despite the glaring lack of manpower in the sector, retailers have reassigned several employees to make the entrance to their stores operational. Even if the measure is not a decision of the merchants, their employees are taken to task by customers, vaccinated or not, sometimes simple opponents, and many are now being insulted on a daily basis. 

Trademarks are dragged in the mud on social networks, some will be permanent. Some storefronts were vandalized, equipment smashed, employees pushed and beaten, and customers kicked out of stores. The retailer has become an easy target for part of the population frustrated by health measures. We no longer count the number of employees who no longer want to be placed at the door of businesses; the level of stress is palpable and absences from work are increasing. 

Since March 2020, retailers have been at the heart of sanitary measures: temporary closures, reduction of the number of people in store, wearing of masks, hand disinfection at the entrance, etc. We will continue to apply health measures in accordance with public health rules, including that of limiting the number of people admitted to stores until February 21, 2022. Let's be frank, the vaccine passport in the retail trade does not is more of a measure aimed at limiting the spread of the virus. Rather, it aims to increase the vaccination rate. Are the human and financial costs that its application entails reflected in a significant increase in the number of first doses? 

Since its entry into force, the vast majority of people who come to stores have been vaccinated, but must nevertheless suffer the consequences of a decision by a small minority that is increasingly entrenched in its positions. The measure also caused a significant drop in the number of vaccinated customers visiting stores and increased costs for merchants. 

Thus, in the absence of a concrete plan to return to normal, concern is growing among retailers. The pressure of such a measure on retailers' operations is strong and can only be tolerated if it is temporary. We need a clear message from the authorities telling us the next date for the withdrawal of the vaccine passport from the stores. This request is simple and will allow retailers and their employees to plan their labor needs accordingly and consider a return to some normality.