N.S. news: Businesses losing revenue amid construction [Video]

Construction is seemingly everywhere in Halifax these days.

“The city is growing and growth is good but we want to know who is paying for that growth and in a lot of cases it’s these small businesses that are losing revenue,” says Duncan Robertson, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Those losses can be significant. The Deck Box, a gaming store, has been dealing with road work right outside of its door. The owner says business is down close to 70 per cent.

“We usually have about 100 transactions a day and some of the days we were doing 25, 30 transactions, so it’s a pretty noticeable drop off,” Joshua Pyle-Carter says.

The city has tried to create a construction mitigation fund to help businesses recover lost revenue, but the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter doesn’t allow them to do so; that authority lies with the province.

Construction in Halifax is pictured. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV Atlantic)

“To Halifax’s credit they have asked …