Province still rules out financial compensation for affected Broadway businesses, weighing other options after meeting

After a meeting Tuesday with members of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area (BIA), the transportation ministry says it will look into other forms of financial assistance to help businesses survive the construction of Vancouver’s next subway line.

Minister Mike Farnworth has consistently rejected the idea of direct financial compensation for affected business owners along the construction area of the Broadway Subway Project (BSP), but says the long-awaited meeting was productive.

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Business owners say that the ongoing construction along the Broadway stretch is disruptive, and many say that it is impacting their revenue dramatically.

The BIA, representing the affected business owners, has demanded a meeting with Farnworth for months in order to push for provincial funding.

“They are firmly entrenched in the no compensation from the Minister of Transportation standpoint,” BIA executive director Neil Wyles told 1130 NewsRadio.

No members of the public or media were allowed to participate in the meeting, but Wyles says that business owners aired their grievances with the project.

The main topic were methods to keep businesses afloat with immediate support, with the BIA pitching province-backed bridge financing options for the those in need.

“The minister basically said that there’s no money to help these businesses, but he did say that he is willing to go to his ministerial colleagues and see if there are other things that we can do,” Wyles told the media after the meeting.

“We were asking for the possibility of some bridge financing, just things to help these businesses get through here.”

Other topics included the project’s delays and the lack of communication.

“This project is entering its sixth year. This is not something that happened overnight,” Wyles added.

He’s critical of the government for poorly managing the road closures that have occurred throughout the project’s history.

Most recently, the province implemented the closure of Broadway between Main and Quebec streets for four months.

The BIA claims its members were not notified of the closure until Jan. 9.

“And they’ve known that this closure was coming, and they’ve known that this delay was there. So we need to see a sense of immediacy from these folks to make sure that we can help all the businesses,” Wyles said.

Business owners shared personal stories of sacrifice

He says some business owners shared personal stories of sacrifice, including taking on second jobs and selling homes, to keep their restaurants and retail shops afloat.

Farnworth says he will talk to his ministerial colleagues about a possible solution, including the suggested bridge financing option.

“Clearly, these are business owners who are dealing with some real challenges right now,” Farnworth told reporters after the meeting.

Overall, he says it went well.

“There are some things I’ll be going back to talk to some of my colleagues about and obviously working within my ministry,” Farnworth said.

“We talked about ways in which we can assist and try to mitigate some of the challenges that they’re facing, and they’ve come up with some, raised a number of issues.”

—With files from Raynaldo Suarez.