With surveys saying most Metro Vancouver restaurant owners are losing money or barely breaking even, hopes are high that recent Bank of Canada interest rate cuts will stimulate consumer spending.
This is key given the range of challenges the industry faces.
For example, new federal changes to its Temporary Foreign Workers Program impact the sector.
That program’s low-wage stream involves hospitality employers paying workers approximately $20 an hour. The federal government is cutting that stream for the hospitality sector, forcing restaurant owners who want to hire foreign workers to do so under a pricier high-wage stream, which could force them to pay up to $36 per hour. For most, that would not be
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