B.C.’s hospitality industry concerned about anger over COVID-19 vaccine cards

A protest against vaccines and vaccine passports took place in Vancouver on Wednesday, albeit with a smaller turnout than one held last week.

Amid the protests, some leaders in BC’s hospitality industry have expressed concern about what could happen when the province’s vaccine card scheme goes into effect next week.

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“There’s been a lot of hype about this, the government has been pretty clear about what’s going on,” said Jeff Guignard, executive director of the Alliance of Beverage Licence.

“If people show up and they don’t have their vaccine passports ready, we know they’re coming to war, and that’s completely unacceptable.”

“You’ll see in every restaurant and bar in British Columbia, a sign that says, ‘By government order and by order of provincial health officials, we’ll find out,'” said Ian Tostenson of the BC Restaurant Association. have to do this.

The jury is looking at whether the process at the door of restaurants and bars to check vaccine cards will be simple or problematic. Bars and nightclubs may have an advantage as they already have ID checkers.

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“There are some restaurants that don’t have a greeter and they’re going to have to bring people in,” Tostenson said.

Some businesses may hire security guards to avoid confrontation.

“We get a lot of questions,” said Michael Jagger of Provident Security. “You don’t want to be abused for just doing what the law says.”

On Tuesday, BC Premier John Horgan hinted the province could help businesses with some of these new costs.

Andrew McWilliam of Ratio Coffee & Pastry in Vernon, BC, says his business has suffered from bogus one-star online reviews and abusive social media comments after announcing it would comply according to the rules laid down for a restaurant like yours.

He says the public can play a role in supporting local businesses that are playing by the rules.

“There are a lot of restaurants, a lot of chains, that are doing a lot of things right and trying to protect their patrons and employees,” he said. “So reward them with good reviews and the positives outweigh the negatives.”

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