e-3560 (Business and trade)

Petition to the Minister of Finance

• The fitness industry represents over 150 000 jobs and serves over six million Canadians;
• Many fitness clubs have been forced to close permanently or lay off the majority of employees since the beginning of COVID-19;
• The fitness industry has received a disproportionate amount of negative media attention throughout the pandemic;
• Fitness clubs are as safe as grocery stores, medical offices, banks, etc.;
• Fitness clubs are more efficient at contact tracing as they are tracking their incoming members in their computer systems, showing exactly what time they were there and who was in the building at the same time;
• All members arriving must sanitize and confirm they have no COVID-19 symptoms;
• The fitness industry is dependent on commitment based membership fees for their income rather than immediate walk-in fees;
• Most fitness clubs are seeing 60% of memberships dropped or paused since the beginning of the pandemic;
• When the provincial restrictions are lifted, the fitness industry will see a delayed return in income and is expected to see a sustained loss of 30% following the accomplishment of herd immunity to COVID-19; and
• The losses that the fitness industry has sustained will take many years to recover from.