Portage theatre owner calls on province to raise curtain

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This article was published 16/07/2020 (1978 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PRAIRIE City Cinema, Portage la Prairie’s lone movie theatre, has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic shut most everything down in mid-March.

More than four months later, owner David Mulaire says his is the only business in town not allowed to be up and running — and he’s getting fed up.

“It’s ridiculous how movie theatres are being treated. We should be on the same tier as restaurants, we cater to the same clientele,” Mulaire said Thursday.

“We can promote social distancing, we can follow the rules better than a restaurant — and here we are.”

Mulaire said he’s been fighting the province’s movie theatre closure rules since May, after the government started the first phase of its reopening plan, and drive-ins were allowed to start summer screenings.

The independent five-screen cinema has a maximum capacity of 160 in its largest theatre. Mulaire said he presented the province with plans to open as a “drive-in” (using the parking lot) or at reduced capacity to comply with social-distancing rules.

However, Mulaire said public health authorities have “stonewalled” him.

“I’m prepared to follow all the guidelines that they’ve set out,” he said. “They move the goalpost on me all the time.”

At first, Mulaire said the province took issue with his pop-up drive-in plan, citing concerns over use of washrooms. The province later told him Prairie City was not originally built as a drive-in theatre, so it could not operate as one under pandemic restrictions.

With the second stage of reopening in June, Mulaire began running outdoor movie nights on weekends — permitted under the province’s “outdoor events” category — as a way to drum up revenue.

“It’s paying to keep the lights on, it’s paying the few staff that I have,” he said, adding staff have had to look for other jobs to supplement their own incomes in the meantime.

Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, said he believes movie theatres have “fallen through the cracks” as the government phases-in its reopening plan.

“These are businesses that are prepared to take all the necessary precautions. We’ve been working with them in terms of providing proper protocols… but for whatever reason, there’s been this unwillingness to allow them to do that,” Davidson said Thursday.

“I really can’t understand… what the hold up is, and I think that’s part of the frustration from the industry. They’re not able to get clarity in terms of what the problems are and what more they can potentially do to make sure that they are taking those necessary precautions.”

Davidson noted there are only “a handful” of independent theatres in the province, many of which are located in rural centres.

“They’re locally owned… they don’t have that same sort of cashflow that a Cineplex would have,” Davidson said. “Not every industry is performing at full strength at this point in time, but we’ve got an industry that’s not performing at all.”

Adding to the frustration: movie theatres in other parts of the country have been allowed to open their doors and light up their screens, albeit with enhanced cleaning and safety measures in place.

Sarah Van Lange, a representative for Cineplex Inc., said the national chain has been able to open select cinemas in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and PEI.

“At this point, provincial restrictions still require our theatres in Manitoba to remain temporarily closed, but we are hopeful that there will be news to share on that front as well soon,” Van Lange said in a statement.

Cineplex theatres have rolled out reserved seating, as well as physical-distancing measures for lobbies, game floors and service areas. The cinemas have also enhanced cleaning protocols and provided staff personal protective equipment, the statement said.

Despite being willing to meet these concessions at his own theatre — including opening at reduced capacity, with staggered showtimes and one movie per auditorium per day — Mulaire said the government has gone silent in responding to requests for clarity.

At a news conference Thursday, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin told media he anticipates movie theatres opening soon, and the government is “working on such a plan now.”

 

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca