With patio season approaching, there are growing calls for the B.C. Government to extend the temporary patio program, put in place due to COVID-19, from the current June 1 date.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Jeff Guignard with the Alliance of Beverage Licensees, says he’s hoping to see that deadline extended through to the end of this patio season.

“Of the 2,000 patios built across the province, fewer than ten per cent have actually had applications to make them permanent. So we are heading towards somewhere where there would be 90 per cent of these patios that would be illegal, and that is obviously stupid,” he said. ”

“I think government has heard us very clearly on this and they’re working to see if they can extend the deadline on this. I fully expect that they are going to have some success.”

The City of Kamloops has already said the temporary extended patios it put up last year will remain until this fall, with a decision on whether to make it permanent coming once this patio season has ended.

“If the liquor licence expires, they can still use the area to serve food,” Planning and Development Manager, Rod Martin, told NL News. “You can sit down and have a coffee, there are a couple of ice-cream shops that have outdoor patio areas. There is even one that we have through the Chamber of Commerce that is just an area to socialize.”

“We don’t have approvals to expand to any additional restaurants at this point. It they are not needed, we would potentially remove them to free up some parking on the streets but right now the whole thing is status quo.”

In a statement to NL News, the BC Government says it is working with some bars, restaurants, and local governments, if they need more time to get their applications in.

“If a licensee is operating a patio under a TESA, they would need approval from the LCRB to continue serving liquor in the service area after the expiry date,” the statement said. “LCRB’s approval of the patio is only required if the area will be used for liquor service.”

But Guignard says the last thing these businesses need is more red tape.

“About 80 per cent of the hospitality industry during the pandemic was breaking even barely, or they were losing money,” Guignard added.

“We lost 15 per cent of the industry even with things like patios and so now is not the right time for red tape. I think the real solution is to move that deadline to 2023, give everybody a change to rebuild this summer and we’ll get our applications in for next year.”