The Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership's (GPREP) six partner municipalities remind all businesses to abide by the provincial guidelines on essential and non-essential services.

Due to the evolving COVID-19 situation, on March 27 the Government of Alberta ordered certain types of businesses to close effective immediately and to remain closed to public access until further notice.

These included:

  • Close contact businesses including:
    • hair salons and barbershops, tattoo and piercing studios, esthetic services;
    • wellness studios and clinics, and non-emergency/non-critical health services provided by regulated health professionals or registered professionals including dentistry, physiotherapy, massage, podiatry, chiropractic and optometry services.
  • Dine-in restaurants will no longer be able to offer service. Take-out and delivery services will continue to be available.
  • Non-essential retail services that fall into the categories of clothing, computers and gaming stores, and services in shopping malls and shopping centres such as hobby and toys, gift and specialty items and furniture.

A more complete list of impacted businesses can be found on the Government of Alberta website. All other businesses and facilities that have previously been ordered to close are to remain closed, including public recreation facilities and private entertainment facilities.

Although non-essential businesses are to remain closed to public access, business owners and employees are able to continue to work out of their business facility to take care of crucial tasks that cannot be done remotely, to retrieve necessary materials or documents, or for the purpose of facilitating the fulfillment of online or mobile ordering, as long as proper precautionary measures have been put in place such as physical distancing, frequent hand washing, and ensuring hand sanitizer is readily available.

Any business or organization not following the public health order is subject to a fine of up to $100,000 for a first offence and up to $500,000 for a subsequent offence or for more serious violations. Anyone aware of a business violating these orders is encouraged to submit a complaint to the province online.

Additionally, businesses in search of local supports are encouraged to visit the Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce website, which houses information and local resources developed by the regional Business Resiliency Task Force, comprised of the City of Grande Prairie, the County of Grande Prairie and the Chamber of Commerce.