“We’re all in it together,’ but are we?’ production company owner questions restrictions

Al Vickaryous isn’t a happy man when it comes to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vickaryous is the owner of Barndog Productions, supplying audio, lighting and staging for events across Saskatchewan.

Typically, this would be a busy time of year for the man who’s run the company for the past 35 years. But due to COVID-19 restrictions, he says he’s lost 99 per cent of his business.

“You always hear people say we’re all in it together,” he told Gormley on Wednesday. “We got creamed (by the pandemic).”

Vickaryous says his company used to be involved with the night club and bands scene but left that side of the industry because some struggled to pay the bills. Now, he says they still have a warehouse full of equipment, but there aren’t many looking for the product.

“Our insurance and our warehouse are all based on doing events that are hopefully not doable by the guy down the block,” he claimed.

“We need anything we can get.”

Some churches have been renting his equipment, but his finances are based on generating a certain amount of revenue.

Currently, Barndog is only employing one person, and Vickaryous says they are down to only four hours per week.

He did say his isn’t the only company in this position, though. He’s spoken to similar companies across Canada, that have the same issues.

“A lot of us that own companies all played in bands years ago, so we all know each other,” Vickaryous said. “Everybody is surviving by using the rental subsidy, some of the staff are there using a wage subsidy. But we have no idea when that stops.”

Vickaryous has recently written to the city regarding property taxes and has reached out to other levels of government as well.

“We need to get somebody that can drive the bus (and be involved). The people that are making the decisions are not financially impacted,” he claimed.

“There’s a lot of money being spent on government programs that I really don’t see what they’re accomplishing.”

Vickaryous pointed to one slogan many adopted during the pandemic as proof, questioning if it is where our current world is heading.

“How come there are essential (businesses) and non-essential (businesses)?” he questioned. “When you think of it, ‘we’re all in it together,’ but are we?”