MONTREAL -- With temperatures warming, Quebec's gardening centres are calling on the government to qualify them as essential services amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This year, it's crazy, everybody wants to make a garden and they want to make flowers,” said Pierre Potvin, owner of Frank Florist and Garden Centre. “I don't think they will travel this year, they're going to stick around the house.”
Many garden centres are still open, albeit solely for delivery. Owners said their stock will be wasted if customers can't come in person to choose what they want and buyers could turn elsewhere.
“A lot of people are calling us and they want to buy something and we tell them we're not open,” said Potvin. “They said 'Okay, Canadian Tire and Rona and even the grocery store, they have soil outside and plants. It's really unfair to us.”
Chris Vincelli, owner of Jack Vincelli Garden Centre, said the government should implement the same rules for businesses like his as big box stores, such as those concerning physical distancing.
“We fall in the same category as them, we should be able to offer similar access to our products,” he said.
On Friday, Premier Francois Legault applauded Quebecers for flattening the curve and said he sees a light at the end of the tunnel for the crisis. He floated the idea of potentially beginning to restart the province's economy.
“Now, in the next few weeks, we'll look at reopening businesses and help businesses that need some help.”
Vincelli said he hopes to use a potential reopening to do good in the community.
“Any client that comes here and purchases, say, a bag of soil for three, four, five dollars, that amount will be donated to a COVID-19 related charity,” he said.
