'I'm more afraid of the government than Omicron:' Ottawa business owners react to new restrictions
As Ontario prepares to move back to a partial lockdown, businesses are dealing with a far too familiar feeling of frustration.
Barely one step into the new year, Ontario is taking at least two steps back.
"It feels like a really hard gut punch,” said Johnny Bonney, general manager of the King Eddy in the ByWard Market. “You just have all the air sucked out of the room. It's frustrating, it's embarrassing, it's maddening, it's sad...I'm at a loss of words that we're right back to where we started.”
Restaurants like the King Eddy are being forced to close their doors to indoor dining, pivoting back to takeout only.
"At this point, I'm more afraid of the government than Omicron," Bonney said.
"Omicron case counts are rising exponentially across the province, we face a tsunami of new cases in the days and weeks ahead," said Premier Doug Ford during a press conference Monday announcing the new measures.
The slew of new rules start Jan. 5 and will last 21 days, they include:
- Closing indoor dining, gyms, and theatres
- Slashing capacity to 50 per cent at retail stores, malls and personal care services
- Cutting social gatherings to five people indoor and 10 people outdoors
- And pausing non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures
"We anticipate a very quick, short and rapid approach to this epidemic and impact on the health care system. That is why these measures are timely, they're proportionate to the risk and they should diminish the burden on the healthcare system," said Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore.
For gyms and fitness facilities, the closures come at a time when business is usually expected to boom.
"When you shut us down for a fifth time, you don't give us any notion of financial support, at the worst time of the year, what do you expect us to do?" said Ashley Mathieu, owner of Anytime Fitness locations in Orleans and on Kent Street downtown.
Without financial support, business advocates say many won't survive.
"These businesses have nothing left,” said Dan Kelly, President and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. “They're at the absolute end of their rope and baring massive financial support from the provincial government we can expect huge numbers of closures in the months ahead.”
The new measures come as a result of surging Omicron cases in the province, threatening pressure on the healthcare system.
And so just days into a new year, instead of a fresh start, many are plunged back into the despair of the past.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.