Some businesses won’t recover from the COVID-19 closures, and nearly every local entrepreneur has been severely affected, says Rich Thompson, the chair of the Yukon Business Advisory Council.

“We’ve already had at least a couple of businesses indicate to us that they won’t be continuing post-COVID,” Thompson told the Star Thursday afternoon.

Thompson has heard that some restaurants won’t reopen, and knows of at least one business that has entered a lease termination agreement.

“A company that comes into crisis with a less-than-strong balance sheet has a real challenge to survive a complete loss of revenue and come out the other end of it,” Thompson said.

“There will definitely be some business losses.”

Businesses hardest hit are in the restaurant, tourism, yoga and fitness industries, Thompson said.

“There’s a lot of business owners out there who have savings invested in their businesses, so when they have their revenue completely shut off … there’s a high degree of frustration.”

During the business advisory council’s correspondence with local businesses, Thompson said it has heard that business owners understand the closures were necessary. They are anxious to operate, however, with measures that mitigate the safety risks.

“The frustration we’ve heard from many businesses is we need to move a little faster to get off government support and get back to healthy private sector operations.”

The Yukon government’s fixed cost subsidy paired with federal wage subsidy programs have rescued many businesses from sinking during the pandemic.

Now that the dust of the pandemic is beginning to settle in the Yukon, businesses are anxious to get off government support.

“It’s extremely uncomfortable; it’s not what you build a business to do,” Thompson said.

“It’s not lost on anybody that when the government has to dole out money … that adds to the debt that eventually has to be paid back.

“There’s a future consequence to all of this bailout.”

While businesses are technically permitted to open, there are continued challenges to generating revenue and staying afloat.

Tourism operators, for example, are looking at a potential two-year stretch before visitors begin returning to the territory as they would have before the pandemic.

Restaurants permitted to open at half-capacity may not be able to take in enough revenue with the seating restrictions.

Nor will they be able to provide the bustling dine-out experience that is pivotal to a successful operation.

COVID-19 has also created some societal shifts, and Thompson said other jurisdictions are already seeing evidence that business traffic isn’t bouncing back as quickly as expected.

“In the simplest way, when people were locked down, some people learned how to cook, so they may be less inclined to go out to restaurants,” Thompson said.

“It’s a really difficult challenge, and there’s a lot of factors at play here.”

Thompson is concerned the pandemic might permanently hinder the entrepreneurial spirit of Yukon business owners. The previous two months have issued an unprecedented example of how things can go sideways for reasons outside your control, he explained.

“A business person won’t approach things with the same risk calculation in the future,” Thompson said.

Many entrepreneurs may be asking themselves if the risk of business is worth the fallout.

“Now that I’m on my back, do I shake it off or accept that I’ve been knocked out?”

The business advisory council has been meeting once a week since March to discuss challenges facing the business community. At the end of each meeting, the council issues a letter to the government with feedback.

“It’s been a very effective mechanism for that flow of information,” Thompson said.

One of the council’s first actions was to collaborate on business funding and other relief mechanisms. Now, the conversation is moving into re-emergence plans, Thompson said.

The council is working on long-term relief measures that will carry tourism operators through a potentially two-year hiatus.

There is also some focus on support for mining, which Thompson said was hit hard by the cost of 14 days of self-isolation for employees.

Mines are looking for relaxed borders and shorter isolation periods to permit a freer flow of employees, paired with more extensive testing for newcomers to ensure that employees are safe.

Thompson said that, in general, the government has been receptive to the council’s feedback.

“Government has been responsive and trying to do what they can,” he said.

“They’ve got a lot of competing pressures, they’ve got a lot to deal with the health aspects, community pressures and everybody else.”