Local businesses scramble to hire more staff as capacity limits lift
Capacity limits have lifted for non-essential businesses that require proof of vaccination, and local restaurants are preparing to welcome more foot traffic through their doors.
“We are pretty excited about it,” Armend Morina, manager at Dearborn Restaurant said to CTV. “It helps [restaurants] a lot, due to the fact that they’ve been left out for two years now.
"I don't think we'll ever be back to how things were in the past."
Indoor dining joins sports facilities, gyms, casinos and other non-essential workplaces as the latest businesses to be included in the province’s decision to ease pandemic restrictions. However, some businesses are unsure if they can keep up with the sudden increase in customers.
“In a way it’s great that we’re back to max, but at the same time it’s going to put pressure on the owners knowing the fact that we have to hire more employees,” Morina said.
Dearborn Restaurant owner Mike Fthenos said he’s reluctant to open at full capacity until he hires more employees to handle the heavy workload.
“They really didn’t give us too much time to get ready for a full house,” Fthenos said. “I’ll probably stay at half capacity for a while until I get the staff I need in order to handle a full house.”
In Kitchener, owners at Gym 41 said they’re ready to welcome more people into the facility to workout.
“It helps create the atmosphere of a gym,” Matt Rolleman, Gym 41 co-owner said. “That’s the way gyms are, it’s kind of like restaurants. You want to have people around. People feed off each other.”
Places of worship, museums and personal care settings can also operate under lifted capacity limits if they opt-in to the vaccine certificate program.
Proof of vaccination still isn’t required to access medical care, grocery stores and other essential services.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.