At Big Rig Kitchen and Brewery in Gloucester Tuesday, many customers said they came in for what will be their last indoor dining experience for a while.
"This was our last chance to actually have a work meeting where we could actually come out to dine so we're taking advantage of the last day," said Kevin Chevrier.
Starting Wednesday, indoor dining is closed for at least three weeks as Omicron surges across Ontario.
"Every time that we get a mandate to implement and everything, we go along with it, we do it, we implement it and try to survive as much as everyone else," said Patrick McCann, Big Rig's front of house manager.
"These new rounds of restrictions coming in really just feels like you're getting kicked when you're down," said Wolf Down owner Joelle Parenteau.
She has written articles about COVID-19's devastating impact on the industry from supply shortages to staffing that have been widely shared.
"We're doing everything in our power just to keep the doors open and to keep some food out there, but just operating basic operations is 10 times harder than it ever was before or than it should be, just because of all of these different issues that we're facing. It's all just trickle-down collateral damage because of COVID," she said.
Among the other new restrictions: indoor sport and recreational facilities will be shut down. So will indoor concert venues, theatres, cinemas, meeting spaces, museums and zoos.
Indoor social gatherings will also be reduced to five people, indoor religious gatherings, weddings and funerals will be restricted to 50 per cent. Personal care services, retail settings and public libraries will also be cut down to 50 per cent.
"We already, at CFIB, were predicting that 180,000 businesses, small firms across Canada, would close their doors forever as a result of the damage they've sustained through the last two years. I suspect that could be a larger number at this stage. That's one in six small firms disappearing permanently," said Dan Kelly, President and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
In Ontario, certain businesses ordered to close will be reimbursed for 100 per cent of property tax and energy costs. Those reduced to 50 per cent capacity will receive a rebate payment for half those expenses. Online applications will open in mid-January, and payments will be retroactive to Dec. 19.
"Obviously anything will help but it doesn't help address the mounting debt that has been accumulated since March 2020," said Michelle Groulx, the executive director of the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement areas. "And so we're looking for support and forgiveness of mounds of debts that are impacting livelihoods here."
The federal government has temporarily expanded the Local Lockdown Program and more Canadians are eligible for the $300 per week Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit if in a region with capacity restrictions and who have lost 50 per cent or more of their income.
"This is not just a business that's being impacted, these are livelihoods. There are many people who work for the businesses who are being impacted and restricted at this moment in time who are facing layoffs and reduced shifts and their income so just for everyone to be kind and to support anyone as much as they can," said Groulx.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a key aide in Donald Trump's White House, told the House committee investigating the violent Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on Tuesday that Trump was informed that people rallying on the mall that morning had weapons but he told officials to 'let my people in' and march to the Capitol.
The top aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows who is testifying before the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot was a young, fast-rising star in the Trump administration.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite who once consorted with royals, presidents and billionaires, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday for helping the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
A scathing letter from an RCMP communications manager released today says RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki referred to direct pressure from the federal public safety minister to release firearm details in the days after the Nova Scotia mass shooting.
The federal Liberal government has agreed to provide sensitive cabinet documents to the inquiry examining its use of the Emergencies Act during the "Freedom Convoy" protest.
A jury at a coroner's inquest into the deaths of three women murdered by their former partner is recommending that Ontario formally declare intimate partner violence an epidemic and establish an independent commission dedicated to eradicating it.
A scathing letter from an RCMP communications manager released today says RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki referred to direct pressure from the federal public safety minister to release firearm details in the days after the Nova Scotia mass shooting.
Ontario drivers should get a break at the pumps this weekend as the provincial government slashes its portion of the gas tax but at least one industry analyst is warning that the relief will likely be temporary.
Ontario's police watchdog is investigating after Ottawa police officers shot and killed a man and injured a woman while responding to the stabbing deaths of two women.
A coroner's report released Tuesday is calling on Quebec to teach new drivers to open their car doors with their right hand in order to prevent dooring incidents with cyclists.
A 65-year-old suspect in Timmins has been arrested for disturbing the peace for repeatedly using an "air cannon," or a device that makes extremely loud, air raid-like noises.
Ontario's new natural resources minister, former Bracebridge mayor Graydon Smith, is facing a hearing to determine whether he harmed a threatened turtle species when he was the mayor of the small town.
Witnesses said a man used a jack to free a female cyclist trapped underneath a vehicle at the corner of Glengarry Avenue and Fanshawe Park Road East early Tuesday afternoon.
With limited spaces in French immersion programs, the Thames Valley District School Board is finding itself having to remind families there’s not enough room for everyone.
Pembina Valley RCMP charged a 29-year-old woman earlier this month after her 13-year-old daughter and six of her friends were involved in an off-road vehicle (ORV) crash.
Every morning, when Karli Chomick would drop her children Savanna and Ryder off at St. Timothy Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener, she would do the same thing: give them a hug and a kiss, then tell them to be kind.
Being in recovery from a spinal fracture suffered in a car accident one month earlier didn’t stop Katelynn Saengdala, a then 32-year-old manufacturing worker of Kitchener, from saving two people struggling to stay afloat in Lake Erie.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite who once consorted with royals, presidents and billionaires, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday for helping the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down a law passed by the former Stephen Harper Conservatives that allows a judge to increase parole ineligibility periods for offenders who commit multiple murders. Now there’s fear it could mean sentence “discounts” for other mass murderers.
Now that COVID-19 restrictions have lifted many Albertans can’t wait to start travelling again, but experts warn no matter the type of vacation get ready to pay more.
The premier of British Columbia has announced he won't seek a third term, but will remain on the job until the provincial NDP can hold a leadership convention.
A man has been charged with second-degree murder in the case of a woman who was stabbed to death last month, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
The body of a 19-year-old man who went missing while swimming at the public beach in Buena Vista, Sask. on Last Mountain Lake has been recovered, according to RCMP.
