NDP vows to fight for small businesses feeling the pinch from COVID-19 restrictions

Owners of a Winnipeg small business that has suffered through financial hardships during the pandemic feelthe province has deserted them.

It's businesses such as Lasertopiathat Manitoba's New Democratic Party has vowed to fight for as the March 22 byelection to fill former premier Brian Pallister's vacant seat approaches.

Lasertopia opened about nine months before Manitoba was first hit with COVID-19, but it has since struggled to treadwater as the various public health orders caused ebbs and flows in Shannon Henzel'sbusiness.

She has been forced to lay off staff multiple times over the last two years and sometimes shut the doors on their10,000 square-foot facility, whichoffers entertainment for the whole family.

Unfortunately, Henzelsays, that it hasn't been much fun since March 2020.

"We have had to incur significant personal debt at the time we needed the government by our side," Henzel said on Monday."We felt abandoned and ignored."

She says Lasertopia, which is located in the business park on WaverleyStreet, either wasn't eligible for provincial support programs, or the supports her business receivedwere not enough to keepoperations going while significant restrictions were in place.

NDP Leader Wab Kinewsays the last round of pandemic-related supports for small businesses didn't provide the capital needed to help them bridge another round of economic hardship.

"It's time to take another look at the design of these programs and assure that they're not freezing out small business as small businesses, and in fact, they're targeted to supporting businesses that power the local economy," Kinew said.

During a campaign stop at Lasertopiaon Monday, Trudy Schroeder, the NDP candidate in the Fort Whyte byelection, said she believes every business and every sector has special needs during troubled times.

She blames theProgressive Conservative government for "refusing to take the time" to discoverwhat small businesses needed during the pandemic.

"To have a resource that would make it possible for people not to go into personal debt and endangertheir families and their livelihoods, but to make that easy andmake it straightforwardwould have been a great thing," Schroeder said.