As the owners of the Bears Den Restaurant & Lounge prepare to close their business for good, the Premier of Alberta has taken issue with a restaurateur’s belief that the provincial government's policies are responsible for the closure.

On January 12, a message was posted on the Bears Den’s Facebook page announcing the impending closure. The post cited economic conditions and a poor business environment, including changes to minimum wage and statutory holiday pay, as factors.

Scott Winograd, the general manager and co-proprietor of Bears Den, discussed the decision with CTV Calgary on Monday.

“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” said Winograd on January 15. “It’s an increase in wages, it’s an increase in labour conditions, statutory holiday pay for example, its carbon tax. All of that together builds up and or course, my suppliers, we’re at the end of a value chain. Our suppliers have to pass those costs off and so they’re passing it across to me. There’s only so much I can raise my prices.”

Premier Notley attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Minhas Micro Brewery in northeast Calgary on Thursday and took the opportunity to respond to Winograd’s claims.

“Anyone that has a business model that involves walking an $85 steak to a table of the much beloved customer but having the person that walks that steak over then have to stop at the food bank on the way home, that is not a business model that, I think, in the long term is designed to succeed,” said Notley.

The Bears Den is scheduled to cease operations on January 28 and 26 staff members will lose their jobs.