The President and CEO of the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce is happy to see any sort of plan to re-open Saskatchewan’s economy.

John Hopkins said no matter what, the health of Saskatchewan residents comes first and foremost, but it is encouraging to see the province preparing to reintroduce economic activity into people’s lives.

“The most important part of re-opening the economy is that there is a plan, as opposed to not knowing what’s going to happen,” Hopkins said. “So very positive in terms of having a plan, there’s still pain to come, this is not easy but the alternative is we open to quickly or soon and have a resurgence in COVID-19 cases and that’s not in the best interest of anybody,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins knows with out a doubt Regina and Saskatchewan will feel effects of this pandemic economically for years to come.

He said a resurgence in cases would hurt the economy more than a slow and methodical re-open.

“If we see another spike then we’re back to square one and then we’re back to shuttering everything down and that’s not good for anybody, it’s not good for business owners it’s not good for employees it’s not good for customers, the community, the province and the country, the list goes on from there.”

“We also really have to be cognizant of the fact peoples health and safety needs to come first, the economy is extremely important but we need to insure people are safe, so we support this staged approach,” said Hopkins.