As restaurants across the city continue to face safety concerns, the head of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association says plans to implement safety measures are moving at an unacceptable pace.
Shaun Jeffrey says he’s been involved in meetings with the mayor of Winnipeg and the Minister of Justice of Manitoba recently, but doesn’t feel like they’re getting anywhere.
“Our industry is still recovering from the pandemic, and we simply do not have the capital funds to support the installation of a $7,000 security system,” Jeffrey said.
“We need some kind of investment until some of these large-scale programs that the government is working on can start. This is a short-term problem and we need short-term relief.”
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He says the security situation for his members is bad and getting worse.
“Unfortunately, this is not happening fast enough. We need to be able to make progress in protecting these people in our company who are just trying to make a living.”
This comes after the recent temporary closure of the Osborne Street Starbucks due to concerns about crime in the area.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says he recently had a good conversation with Jeffrey and they are working to make Winnipeg a safer community for everyone, no matter where they live.
“We have good groups working on the front lines and we just need to bring them together now,” Gillingham told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.
Jeffrey says his organization is looking to the government to connect them with experts so they can be an information conduit to help customers and employees.
“All we’re really asking for is to work together in an accelerated manner to get some of these programs up and running.”
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