Article content continued
The provincial figures are “great for us as a reminder that we are doing great. But it is also really frustrating to see that we were bunched in to closures without real merit,”saidCélia Lemieux, co-founder ofOrléans Brewing Company, whose tap room on Innes Road has been shut for almost three weeks.
Lemieux, Shrybman and others noted they had spent thousands of dollars on Plexiglas screening and sanitizing products while ensuring that staff and guests followed pandemic protocols, only to be forced to close.
“We have been operating in a safe manner right from March,” said Gillian Martin, general manager of Mongolian Village West in Bells Corners. While her restaurant used to have customers assemble their own meals from a bar of ingredients, it adapted to COVID-19 by having customers check off their desired ingredients on pieces of paper, Martin said.
She took from the outbreak numbers that Ottawa’s restaurants had been targeted unfairly. “I thought there would be more outbreaks,” Martin said.
At a Friday press conference, Ontario Premier Doug Ford defended his government’s decision to impose the modified Stage 2 restrictions, saying they were necessary at the time and have proven effective. But they were never intended to be long-term solutions, said Ford.
Furthermore, Martin and Shrybman complained they’ve heard nothing more about the provincial government’s promised $300 million to help pay the fixed costs of businesses that were forced to close.
