Ground Burger Bar owner Grant Buckley said the restrictions remaining on his businesses are head-scratching.
Like others, the downtown Newmarket restaurant is limited to 50 per cent of its capacity, with a vaccine verification requirement in place for any indoor dining. But Buckley said it does not make sense to him why 20,000 people can gather close together with strangers to watch a Toronto Maple Leafs game live, but he has to keep people farther apart to watch a Leafs game at his restaurant.
“It just seems like a big slap in the face to what we do here,” Buckley said. “It just doesn’t seem like the playing field is level at this point.”
Restaurants and other small businesses are pushing for the provincial government to lift capacity restrictions with a vaccine verification system in place. Business organizations are questioning maintaining them while allowing some event spaces to have full capacity, and hope the government might opt to lift restrictions.
Olde Village Free House owner Allan Cockburn said he has had to keep an extra staff person on shift just to manage vaccine verification. He said more capacity is needed as the weather gets colder, which will soon halt patio dining.
“Super frustrating. I can’t imagine what the story is behind it all. I just don’t understand,” he said. “I have no problem turning away people that aren’t double vaxxed. Let’s get business back to normal.”
The province is expected to announce its reopening plan today. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said last week he wants to monitor the impact of Thanksgiving on COVID-19 numbers.
"We will not be doing this suddenly," Moore said of restrictions lifting. "This will be slow, gradual and cautious."
York Region has taken note of the demands of restaurants. Council’s committee of the whole resolved Oct. 14 to ask the province to lift all capacity restrictions and provide additional financial support for restaurants and small businesses to handle the cost of implementing the vaccine passport system.
Cockburn said that financial support would be welcome, adding he has seen it impact about 65 to 70 per cent of restaurants. He said he hopes the province announces it alongside lifting capacity restrictions.
“The (COVID-19) numbers are going down. There’s no need to get things rolling again,” he said.
Buckley said he has not had many expenses related to verifying vaccinations, but he said change is needed and he hopes the government addresses why things stand as they are.
“Something needs to be done," Buckley said. “It needs to be done quicker.”
—With files from The Canadian Press
