The declaration of Alberta's state of public health emergency and new restrictions has far-reaching effects on us all. The sector in our town that has been severely crippled is small business. 

Chamber of Commerce president, Kelly Sinclair says, "On behalf of the chamber, we are relatively pleased by the Premier's decision not to put the province back into a full lockdown. The impact of that decision on small businesses would have been devastating." 

Of course, depending on the type of business, some are impacted more than others however, Sinclair points out that it is up to the community to remember all our local businesses.

A word that is focused on in hard times is "economy". Sinclair wants to emphasize that small business is not just about economics. She says, "Personalize the word economy because it is not just about an exchange of money. We are talking about people. Business owners invest their savings and their energy into their business and they provide important products and services that we all benefit from. They provide jobs and they support our community."

Sinclair points out, what most of us already know, we live in a great community and the Chamber of Commerce hopes that it will continue to support the small local businesses in our town. There is a lot of resiliency in our town and the term "we are all in this together," can be applied to the business perspective in the terms of "Shopping locally as much as you can, searching for local groups for vendors to create custom gifts. Maybe you can call businesses for curbside pickup or delivery if you don't want to shop. Many of our local businesses have even added online shopping options."

Sinclair also wishes to gently remind customers, "We need to be patient right now which might mean waiting in line, it might mean longer response times to inquiries especially virtually, and being kind. Business owners right now, are in positions that they just never dreamed they would be in."

So, during the holiday season remember we are all in this together and together we will get through it. A kind word or a thoughtful gesture will go a long way as it is sometimes hard to see a smile because of the mask.