VIDEO: MLA Ben Stewart says government gym closure is not working out

Kelowna West MLA Ben Stewart says the shutdown of Gyms and fitness centres in the province is just wrong.

Stewart told KelownaNow that the decision was made without consultation.

"There was no opportunity given for them to look at the options," said Stewart.

He said there has been a lot of consultation with the restaurant sector, but that hasn't been the case in the fitness sector.

"No conversation with the gym owners about how they could open under a different set of rules," he said, "and that kind of, to me, was just wrong."

An open letter to health minister Adrian Dix calls for the closure order to be reversed.

"This decision was made for British Columbians without any supporting data," he wrote, "that gyms and fitness centres were causing the spread of COVID-19."

Further to my colleague @Daniel_Davies regarding gym & fitness facility closures, I support further dialogue between small business owners and the Provincial Health Officer to find a workable solution. #smallbusinessbc #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/rqLbliV6V5

— Ben Stewart (@benstewartbc) January 12, 2022

Stewart didn't want to get into what he does or doesn't like about the very public refusal of West Kelowna Gym Iron Energy to comply with the order, but he agrees with their position that the order isn't fair.

"We need to make certain that people can go about their daily lives," said Stewart.

The Iron Energy Gym was visited by the RCMP and Interior Health and fined $2,300 on Jan 6.

"The mental health and wellbeing of people in Kelowna West and the rest of British Columbia are all being impacted."

Stewart said a better solution would have been to give gyms a chance to come up with solutions to the spread of the Omicron variant.

"Arbitrary and disrespectful are the words I would use," he said.

Unless it's extended, the public health order to close gyms and fitness centres expires Jan. 18.