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During the "Freedom Convoy" protests that blocked city streets for nearly a month, Canadian businesses in downtown Ottawa's CF Rideau Centre lost approximately $2.3 million a day in sales and wages, experts told the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC).
The CF Rideau Centre is a shopping center located in the heart of the city and features a variety of shops and restaurants including: Champ Sports, Foot Locker, GameStop, H&M, Subway, and an Apple store. Collectively, all the other businesses in the area lost approximately $900,000 a day in sales and wages.
Pat Nicastro, the owner of Italian supermarket La Bottega Nicastro, which is located in the ByWard Market of downtown Ottawa, told Newsweek that the time during the trucker protest was worse than COVID.
"Worst we ever experienced. Worse than the shutdown of COVID. It was terrible; people were scared to come downtown. It was the slowest three to four weeks for the business," he said. "It was a very scary time to own a business downtown. It was...one thing after another."
He added that unlike other businesses around him, his store managed to stay open throughout the protest.
Retail analysts said that the total economic losses to businesses in the area ranged between $44 million and $200 million during the 23-day protest.
In late February, the Canadian government, in announcing aid to help businesses, mentioned how the "Freedom Convoy" harmed businesses in the area.
"Businesses in Downtown Ottawa have been hard hit by the ongoing illegal blockades of the nation's capital. For the past three weeks, many businesses in the downtown core have been unable to operate safely due to serious concerns caused by the blockades, which has resulted in significant financial losses for local businesses," the announcement said.
The government also announced at the time a "$20 million investment to provide non-repayable contributions to Ottawa businesses who have suffered losses due to these illegal blockades." Those small businesses are able to apply for the "non-repayable contributions of up to $10,000," which are intended to be used for "non-deferrable operational costs not covered by other federal programs."
